Regulation on sale of drugs needed

Regulation on sale of drugs needed

JAKARTA (JP): A regulation is needed in order to curb the illegal distribution of drugs in the capital city, a member of the city council said.

"The illegal distribution of drugs in Jakarta needs to be strictly controlled and for this we need a regulation," member of the Jakarta City Council's Commission B for economic affairs Subagyo told Antara yesterday.

Police have recently intensified their campaign against illegal drugs, especially Ecstasy which they believe is widely circulated in the city.

According to Subagyo, controlling the distribution of drugs, especially Ecstasy, is complicated due to the absence of a legal basis.

He said that even though there is no special factory in the country which produces Ecstasy, people who have some knowledge about drugs may compose it themselves.

They could be doctors, students of medical or pharmaceutical schools, he said.

"They understand about drugs' compositions and might try to mix the substances," he said. He added that this way they could gain much from the sale of the products.

He said even though the actual price of controlled substances is relatively cheap, they could be sold at a high price if they were given special names.

Drugs such as ephedrin, mesoxamine, fenil esprin, amphesamin and casecolceemine are able to alter a users' way of thinking and behavior.

"It also makes them dependent on the drugs," he said. (03)