Youths main target of drug traffickers
Youths main target of drug traffickers
JAKARTA (JP): Although the percentage of drug abusers in
Indonesia is low compared to other countries, it is still
qualitatively very dangerous because the target is the younger
generation, an official of the anti-drug abuse agency said.
"The most effective way to prevent the abuse is to make our
youth resistant to this social ill, by providing them with
knowledge on the danger of drugs," HMD Tandjung, spokesman for
the government coordinating board in charge of eliminating drug
trafficking, addicts and abuse (Bakolak Inpres), said yesterday.
He was briefing members of youth organizations on the dangers
of drug abuse and the problems the government is facing in the
fight against them. The meeting was sponsored by the Lions Club
and the Karya Insani Bersama Foundation.
Tandjung reminded the youths of the data which shows that 65
percent of abusers are people between 16 years and 25 years old.
According to a survey conducted by Bakolak Inpres in 1993,
Tandjung said that the number of Indonesian young people addicted
to drugs was 0.06 percent of the whole population.
"That is why," he said, "the best way to curb the negative
trend is to make the younger generation loath to try narcotics,
or psychotropic substances, such as ecstasy and tranquilizers."
Tandjung said that Indonesia's geographic location has made it
an easy transit area for drugs.
He added that such a position has also made it impossible for
this country to be infiltrated by illegal substances.
Indonesia is located close to the Golden Triangle, the world's
narcotics producer of 2,000 tons of heroin annually, and not far
away from the Golden Crescent, which produces thousands of tons
of cocaine.
The Golden Triangle is located between the borders of Laos,
Myanmar and Thailand. The Golden Crescent comprises Iran,
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey.
"Therefore, it is highly possible that Indonesia has been made
a transaction point by international narcotics syndicates,"
Tandjung said. (03)