The Agonising Struggle to Break Free from Tramadol Addiction
Hayati—not her real name—still remembers how she was first introduced to the illegal drugs she is now trying to leave behind. When Hayati was going through a difficult period, a friend offered her the drug for free. After feeling its effects, she became trapped in an endless cycle of addiction, until she eventually lost herself.
“It’s like it carries on. So you buy again, buy again, buy again, right? But back then I was also poisoned by friends, you see. That’s how it started. It was given to me. They were the ones giving it,” she told detikX.
Five years on, Hayati is still fighting to free herself from her dependence. She admits to consuming more than one type of drug, from Tramadol and Alprazolam to Trihexyphenidyl. Initially she took the drugs almost every day; in a single session she could consume around five pills of different types. Now the frequency has begun to decrease and she only uses them when suffering severe withdrawal.
“With Tramadol, taking it to work feels good. I mean, like you don’t get tired,” she said. But the drug’s effects last only about three hours. After that, her body feels uncomfortable and achy.
The dependency has left her body increasingly frail. She frequently experiences fever-like symptoms and bodily pain when she does not take the drugs.
“It’s like I have to use it almost every day. If I don’t, my body feels feverish,” she said.
She has also felt the impact on her memory and ability to think. She says a number of memories seem to have vanished and are difficult to recall.
“When I talk, it’s really muddled. Really slow. When I try to think, my brain is so slow. I stumble over my words a lot,” she said.
She admits having spent up to Rp 500,000 a week buying the drugs. She has no difficulty finding dealers; one of them operates in the Tanah Abang area of Central Jakarta. According to her account, some drugs are sold at varying prices. Take Tramadol: it is sold in two categories, those claimed to be original products and ordinary ones. Products claimed to be original have stronger effects and command higher prices.
“Sometimes I think, what a waste of money. Why not spend it on food for my children instead,” she said.
Hayati is not alone. Lara—also not her real name—never imagined becoming a Tramadol addict. The woman, who works as a singer companion or lady companion (LC), had long known about the drug through her social circle but had never been interested in trying it. Then around three years ago, she could not resist a friend’s persuasion to try the illegal drug.
Lara said she did not immediately feel any pleasant effects. Instead she felt unsteady, even though she had only taken one Tramadol tablet. Her friends kept pushing her to increase her dose. Once she consumed more, she began to feel the effects that kept drawing her back to Tramadol.
From then on, her dose kept rising. In certain conditions, Lara admits she could consume more than a dozen tablets a day.
“Yes, Kak. Fifteen tablets, even more when I was craving it. I mean, that was in the past,” she told detikX.
Her Tramadol dependence once caused alarming symptoms. She had to be rushed to hospital after feeling hot and cold at the same time, shivering and breaking out in cold sweats.
“Even after I was put on a drip, the doctor was baffled. I was shivering. It felt like my bones were coming loose. That’s what I felt. I felt like crying. My body was cold, yet cold and feverish at the same time,” she said, recounting her withdrawal period.
She has also suffered seizures twice due to consuming Tramadol in high doses. It is one of the experiences she regrets most, because her child witnessed it directly.
“Yes, I’ve had seizures twice. And I felt like I was about to die, Kak. The seizures were really bad. My child said I went stiff,” she revealed.
Lara says her social environment is a particular challenge in her efforts to break free from drug dependence. Where she lives, friends often ask each other to help buy the drug.
Lara is now still trying to reduce her Tramadol consumption gradually. She admits she has not been able to stop completely.
“If you can avoid it, don’t. Because back then I really felt the high was so good. If you can, never try it, even just once or twice. Because you’ll end up like me. Truly,” she said.
Widespread, Easily Accessible, and Hard to Control
Head of the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) Taruna Ikrar said the circulation of illegal Tramadol is the top priority handled by his agency. He said BPOM’s civil servant investigators handled 51 cases (14.06%) involving certain illegal drugs, including Tramadol, in 2023. In 2024 there were 42 cases (14.89%), and in 2025 there were 37 cases (25.62%).
In addition, based on drug and food crime vulnerability data compiled from all BPOM technical implementation units, there were 386 findings of Tramadol circulation cases in 2025 and 258 findings up to May 2026.
“Based on case-handling data by BPOM’s civil servant investigators over the past three years, the circulation of illegal Tramadol has tended to be higher than other commodities supervised by BPOM,” Taruna told detikX.
The proliferation of illegal Tramadol is also occurring in the digital sphere. BPOM recorded that 3,671 links promoting certain illegal drugs, including Tramadol, were submitted for takedown in 2023. The figure reached 3,200 links in 2024, 2,375 links in 2025, and 1,256 links up to June 2026.
Taruna said BPOM has also mapped a number of regions with high vulnerability to illegal Tramadol circulation. Banten province recorded the highest number of findings during the period from 2025 to May 2026, with 265 findings. It was followed by West Java with 121 findings and South Sulawesi with 94.
According to him, the high figures are linked to the geographical and socioeconomic characteristics of each region. Banten, particularly Tangerang and its surroundings, is vulnerable because it is a dense industrial area with direct access to Merak Port as the gateway for goods between Java and Sumatra.
Meanwhile, DKI Jakarta is considered vulnerable as the centre of national trade with high online trading activity. South Sulawesi, with Makassar as the main distribution hub for eastern Indonesia, is one of the logistical nodes connecting supply to surrounding regions.
“These characteristics show that the high number of findings in these three regions is closely related to their position as strategic distribution and transit nodes, both in terms of inter-island logistics and the density of economic activity and online trade,” he said.
For this reason, BPOM believes stronger supervision, enforcement and cross-sector synergy are needed, especially at distribution points such as ports, industrial areas and e-commerce logistics centres.
Taruna also highlighted the shift in Tramadol use from medical to non-medical purposes. According to him, this phenomenon is driven by low public awareness of proper drug use, peer influence, and the ease of obtaining the drug illegally.
Among teenagers, Tramadol abuse is heavily influenced by curiosity, peer pressure and the desire to obtain psychoactive effects. Meanwhile, based on BPOM’s information gathering in several regions of Indonesia, Tramadol is also widely misused by informal workers such as labourers and construction workers, who believe it boosts stamina and reduces fatigue.
“It has even been reported that foremen usually distribute Tramadol to their workers before starting work. This behaviour is considered normal and has become a habit among labourers to support longer working stamina, eventually producing dependency effects,” said Taruna.
He said the ease of access through online platforms has also been exploited by certain individuals to distribute drugs illegally. Yet consuming hard drugs without medical indication and a doctor’s prescription can produce unexpected effects that endanger health.
“The use of these hard drugs is actually a distorted-thinking phenomenon linked to public understanding of this type of hard drug, the suggestion of use and the addictive effects that lead to abuse,” he said.