Rehabilitation center helps youngsters kick the habit
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Everything is free here. Students don't have to pay for their tuition, training, food and boarding during their year-long study program.
Welcome to the Rehabilitation Center for Narcotics Victims and Juvenile Delinquents. The Khusnul Khotimah in Tangerang, West Java, is home to 100 men between 15 and 25 years old.
The term "narcotics victims" refers to former drug addicts or alcoholics.
The students receive mental, spiritual and social guidance as well as automotive, electronic, welding and sewing training. They also learn about discipline.
The rehabilitation center is managed by the Ministry of Social Services. The instructors come from the ministry, the police force and the Ministry of Manpower.
"We also tell them about HIV/AIDS," said Sri Winarni, who is in charge of narcotics and juvenile delinquency affairs at the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Social Services.
Narcotics abusers are prone to HIV infection because the virus can spread through the use of unsterile syringes.
Activities at the 3.3-hectare rehabilitation center begin at dawn. The students have to get up at 4:30 a.m., pray together and exercise before having breakfast and getting ready for their first class, which starts at 8 a.m.
"At the beginning it was very hard for me to get up that early because I used to sleep until 10 a.m.," one student, Rony, said.
It took him a week to get accustomed to the new habit.
A technical high school graduate, Rony worked in a furniture shop last year for a while but quit because he did not like the work and earned little. He had been jobless for months when his neighbor, a Ministry of Social Services employee, suggested he register with the rehabilitation center.
Asked why he took drugs, the 19 year old replied he had not taken any drugs. He later admitted that he used to smoke marijuana. An enveloped of marijuana costs between Rp 10,000 (US$4.3) and Rp 15,000. An envelope is enough for four cigarettes.
"I felt good when I was high. I was weak but happy," he said.
He says he can learn a lot at the center.
"I did not tell my girlfriend I am here. I just told her I take some courses organized by the Ministry of Manpower," he said.
There are five other rehabilitation centers for former addicts and juvenile delinquents, all under the management of the Ministry of Social Services. They are located in Lembang and Bogor, West Java; Semarang, Central Java; Surabaya, East Java; and Medan, North Sumatra. Only the Lembang center is for women.
The rehabilitation center in Tangerang has 42 employees, including 12 social workers.
The ministry's first rehabilitation center was established in a rented house in Cilandak, South Jakarta, in 1973. Two years later it had its own building in Slipi, Central Jakarta, but in 1994 it moved to a quiet area in Tangerang.
"We decided to move from Slipi because the environment was not conducive to a rehabilitation center. It was too close to the crowds and they could buy alcohol from nearby stores," Winarni said.
The Tangerang center received Rp 184 million in operation fund for the 1996/1997 fiscal year. The amount includes the budget for the meals, excluding rice, which costs Rp 2,000 a day for each student.
The center follows an open system, said Antoni Janer, head of the guidance section.
"We don't lock them in their rooms. They are free to go out or receive guests after class," he said.
He added that he doesn't hesitate to punish late or truant students. The punishment is usually cleaning bathrooms, the yard or other parts of the compound.
Students found taking drugs are shut in an isolation room for a week.
"They have pledged not to take drugs anymore and behave themselves, but you never know," Janer said.
A urine test is performed twice a year to check whether the students are really free from drugs.
The center does not guarantee that the students will give up their bad habits.
Earlier this year, five students and a man from outside the center tried to steal the 29-inch television from the dining room.
"They had taken the TV set outside the complex, but dumped it on the ground. They were apparently afraid as they saw people from the neighborhood," he said.
An average of 10 percent of the students fail to correct their behavior, said Janer.
The students are usually hooked on barbiturates, marijuana or alcohol. The addicts without much money mixed aspirin with soft drink in an attempt to get high.
"Many students are from poor families. They can't afford Ecstasy," Winarni said.
One Ecstasy pill costs at least Rp 40,000.
"It doesn't make any difference. They need to be rehabilitated no matter what drug they take," she said.
Sutisna Mihardja, the center director, said that parents are involved in the rehabilitation of their children. In many cases, their children became disoriented from lack of attention, she said.
"Once in three months we invite them (the parents) to review the student's development," he said.
Parents also have a monthly meeting to discuss their child's problems.
Children are also susceptible to peer pressure.
"At first they just want to try because their friends do it. Later on, they become addicted," Sustisna said.
Andy, 17, started taking drugs in elementary school. His worried parents sent him to junior high school in Padang, West Sumatra, with the hope that he would get better in the new environment. Andy, who lived with his uncle, was expelled from school because a teacher found out he took drugs. He returned to Jakarta and went to another high school. Again, the school kicked him out because of his addiction to barbiturates.
"I took the drugs to forget my problems," he said, not bothering to say what his problems were.
Late last year, his parents took him to the Drug Dependency Hospital of Fatmawati in South Jakarta, where he stayed for a month. The hospital then recommended that Andy enroll at the rehabilitation center.
Andy has kicked his dependency problem and plans to continue his formal education after he leaves the rehabilitation center.
"I want to go to a high school and continue my studies," he said.