Soeharto wants anti-narcotic drive intensified

Soeharto wants anti-narcotic drive intensified

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday said that Indonesia
should conduct an intensive campaign against drug abuse even
though narcotic are a relatively small problem in the country.

"We should conduct this campaign without overdramatizing the
problem," Soeharto was quoted as saying by Soedibyo, the chief of
the State Intelligence Board.

The problem is serious, particularly given that drug addiction
is prevalent among young people, he told reporters after meeting
with Soeharto at the Merdeka Palace.

Soedibyo yesterday reported to the head of state in his
capacity as head of an agency that coordinates the nation's
campaign against drug trafficking and abuse.

He said that the campaign has involved public figures since
1978 with the establishment of Wargatama, a private coordination
and consultative agency that handles problems related to drug
addiction, including rehabilitation.

Wargatama's credibility was given a further boost in 1990 when
it enlisted President Soeharto as its chief trustee and First
Lady Tien Soeharto and a number of cabinet ministers as advisors.
The organization is currently headed by Putra Astaman, a retired
police major general.

Asked about the extent of drug abuse in Indonesia, Soedibyo
said that in 1994 the police estimated the number of drug addicts
and dealers to be around 14,800.

He said the actual number could be 10 times as high given the
reluctance of families to report family members who may have a
drug problem.

He said drug addicts and dealers are often very difficult to
differentiate because an addict often trades in the contraband,
and dealers are often addicts themselves.

Soedibyo said that although more and more heroin has being
seized by the authorities in Indonesia in recent years, it is
believed that most of it was in transit to other countries.

He pointed out that the Drug Addiction Treatment Center at the
Fatmawati Hospital in Jakarta rarely deals with people addicted
to heroin. Most of the center's patients are addicted to
marijuana and prescription drugs.

"Rarely do we find cases of heroin addicts. From this, we
conclude that the heroin haul recently seized in this country was
not really intended for the local market."

Between 1993 and 1994, some 90 kilograms of heroin was seized
at airports in Medan, Jakarta, and Denpasar. Almost all involved
foreigners, some of whom received the death penalty.

A survey of patients treated at the Fatmawati center showed
that 85 percent of them came from the 15-25 year age group.

Soedibyo said another surprising finding is that drug
addiction is not a rich man's problem as widely believed given
the high cost of drugs and treatment.

The majority of patients at the Fatmawati center come from
people in the middle-to-low income group, he said. There are
children of Armed Forces members, children of civil servants and
children of average people.

"The survey fails to show any particular pattern of drug
addiction in Indonesia. This has given us high hopes of
suppressing the problem in this country," he said.

Soedibyo said the anti-narcotic campaign in Indonesia is more
preventive in nature, taking the campaign not only to youngsters,
but also to parents, to inform them of the dangers of drug
addiction. Such a campaign must involve the participation of as
wide a range of people as possible, he added.

"Someone who is addicted virtually waits for his death," is
the message that Wargatama intends to give to youths and parents.

The campaign is also targeted at narcotic victims, to try to
cure them of their addiction and once cured, prevent them from
going back to their old habits.

The other target of the campaign is to nail the dealers and
punish them as harshly as possible.

More than 10 people have been sentenced to death for drug
trafficking since the maximum penalty was introduced in 1974.

However, only one person has been executed -- a Malaysian in
January. (emb)