Treesye, Indonesia's 'Miss Junkie'

Treesye, Indonesia's 'Miss Junkie'

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is at the height of its antinarcotics campaign.
Banners and posters can be seen everywhere across the country
with a single message: Stay away from drugs.

Drug abuse has become a serious problem in Indonesia. The
latest data from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN, bknn.or.id)
shows that at least 2 million Indonesians are involved in it.

Ironically, cases of drug abuse that the police have handled
are relatively small. The number increased from 1,833 in 1999 to
3,478 in 2000 and 3,617 in 2001.

What has caused concern is that while in 1999 only 11,026 of
the total recorded drug abusers were properly treated, the total
decreased to almost half of that in the next two years.

"This is like the tip of an iceberg. It cannot be used as a
reference because the actual number must be much greater than the
official figure," said therapist Treesye Nugraheni Ratri Astuti.

Treesye may be right, for, as a therapist for drug addicts at
Wisma Adiksi, a drug addict rehabilitation clinic, and at Puri
Cinere Hospital, she can make an estimate close to the actual
number.

Every drug addict, also referred to as a junkie, usually has
about three drug abusers within his inner circle, she said.

What bothers Treesye is that the government has never been
serious in its campaign to eradicate drug trafficking because law
enforcers have often let narcotics bosses off, thus encouraging
others to follow suit.

Instead, drug abusers, who are the victims, are often severely
punished.

She pointed out that the government was not being responsive
enough to victims of drug abuse. Indonesia, for example, has no
special hospital or rehabilitation center for drug abusers from
the middle-to-lower social classes. In handling drug prevention
and recovery, Indonesia is about a decade behind its neighboring
countries, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

"Rich people can save members of their families, but not the
poor," said Treesye. She said that at least Rp 6 million is
required to fully detoxify a drug abuser. Therapy at a recovery
center costs at least Rp 3 million per month, she added.

Treesye handles physical and psychological recovery of drug
addicts so that they can get along properly with their families
and community.

Apart from the victims, their families are important targets
for therapy so that they can properly deal with a drug abuser
among them.

"In this way, a drug addict will be kept away from drug
consumption for a long time. Usually drug addicts can easily slip
back into addiction if their families cannot accept them as they
are," she said.

Along with some of her colleagues at Wisma Adiksi and Puri
Cinere Hospital, Treesye is grooming a number of prospective
counselors and clinical staffers from among drug addicts,
particularly women.

She said that they found it very hard to get people ready to
handle women drug addicts. Extra knowledge and experience were
needed because the problems that a women drug addict had to face
were usually more complex.

A strong urge to volunteer to help narcotics victims and serve
as a therapist made her abandon her teenage glamorous world. In
1973 she was crowned Miss Jakarta and in 1976 Miss Indonesia.

"Since childhood I developed a penchant for listening to
people's complaints. When I decided to accompany these people, I
left behind my glamorous life and stopped my activities as Miss
Indonesia. Their world was quite different to mine," said
Treesye, who now raises two daughters alone after her husband
died three years ago.

Indonesia, she said, has only a few women counselors. In
Greater Jakarta, there are some 50 recovery centers and
rehabilitation clinics but only a small number of experts to deal
with women victims.

The number of women undergoing rehabilitation is no more than
one-fifth of the number of male victims. At Wisma Adiksi, for
example, she was only able to persuade 10 women to work as
counselors from 50 already treated since the clinic for women
opened in 1999.

Women victims of narcotics need special attention as they play
a key role in their families, especially if they are married with
children.

"Women addicts usually consider themselves useless -- both
within their families and their community - so their self-esteem
must be restored," she said.

One of her foster children is an ex-addict who is now able to
help other victims and is learning the therapeutic community
method in Malaysia. Under this method, drug abusers are handled
using a multidisciplinary approach, involving physicians,
psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical staffers/counselors and
social workers.

Treesye got acquainted with the world of drug abuse while
completing her studies for a degree in psychology at the
University of San Diego, California, in 1989. While studying, she
also worked as a family counselor at the East Wind Socialization
Center for Southeast Asian Refugees, San Diego.

It was at this institution that she handled the impact of
cultural problems experienced by Vietnamese refugees. She
provided them with skills and empowered them as regards their
need to interact with American culture.

After earning her BA degree, Treesye continued her studies for
an MA degree (1993) in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling at
the same university.

Then, while taking lectures, she worked as a family therapist
at Ocean Beach Community Services, California. It was here that
she dealt with various problems afflicting teenagers, such as
violence against children, rape and incest as well as abuse of
alcohol and narcotics by teenagers.

While dealing with "men from the dark world", she studied a
lot about psychotropic drugs and other narcotic substances from
many countries.