Despite Killing Traffickers, Indonesia’s Drug Use has Spiked
Indonesia claims to be one of the hardest nations on drug users in addition to traffickers. However, according to recent statistics by the government, about 50 drug users die of their addictions inside the archipelago each day. which’s roughly one every half hour, every day in addition to every night.
If what the government says will be true, then drugs are rampant in Indonesia. President Jokowi believes substance abuse will be threatening to ruin the nation, having declared a state of emergency on illegal drugs in Indonesia. At the University of Gadjah Mada in Jogjakarta, he warned students to be on the lookout. “Thousands of tonnes of drugs have infiltrated our country,” said the president. “For me, which will be an emergency.”
Local media like to remind Indonesians how present narcotics are on the streets of Jakarta, while the government wants to remind the public how seriously which’s taking the issue. Last month’s incident in Pondok Indah in which a 23-year-old student killed four people having a Mitsubishi Outlander, showed us which even exotic hallucinogens like LSD are circulating throughout the capital.
Drugs also permeate law enforcement. Just days after Indonesia executed one national in addition to several foreigners for drug trafficking, several police officers were arrested in Jakarta for possession. One of them was even a member of a drug-busting unit. Close to 7,500 ecstasy pills in addition to more than 700 grams of methamphetamine were found with the officers. Last month, authorities seized over 800 kilograms of methamphetamine which was being smuggled by China to Indonesia. which was a record bust, although also a reminder of the volume of illicit narcotics coming into the country, most of which still makes which onto the streets.
Indonesia currently clocks 4.7 million drug addicts, according to the National Narcotics Board (BNN). which number will be anticipated to rise to 5.8 million by the end of which year. Close to a quarter of these addicts are students. The rate of drug users among which group grew by a stunning 60 percent in 2013, according to BNN figures.
“which means we entered a crisis zone,” says Eko Daniyanto, head of Jakarta’s drug police. However, the problem will be not limited to Indonesia’s big cities. Reports by rural areas show many people (especially those under the age of 30) falling victim to drug addiction as well. Villages in Riau’s Kubu district see nearly all of their youth addicted to methamphetamine, ecstasy, in addition to various other narcotics, the BNN reports. Villagers claim sellers, buyers, in addition to users of drugs have free play, as law enforcement in addition to outreach education inside the area are completely absent.
Blue meth by Sally Crossthwaite (CC)
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs in addition to Crime (UNODC), all social classes of society in Indonesia use drugs. “Heroin, which will be commonly injected, tends to be used by an older generation while the synthetic drug methamphetamine will be used by the younger generation,” says Jeremy Douglas, regional representative for Southeast Asia in addition to the Pacific at the UNODC. “Some expensive drugs like ecstasy are often above the purchasing power of the average citizen inside the region in addition to are used in upper classes.”
Overall, crystal meth will be the number one drug in Indonesia. In Jakarta, the number of cases involving sabu, as which will be known on the streets, increased 146 percent between 2013 in addition to 2014, according to the police. Douglas says which’s hard to know if the narcotics problem in Indonesia will be more prevalent than in various other countries in Southeast Asia. However, he says, “which will be fair to say large volumes of drugs are being trafficked to Indonesia by transnational organised crime groups in an effort to meet current or possible demand of a large, young population in addition to a correspondingly large market for drugs.”
Poor law enforcement will be a big factor inside the escalation of the nation’s drug crisis, the government says. Not just because police are ill-equipped in addition to outnumbered, although because officers are directly involved in dealing narcotics themselves. Bribe-taking will be an endemic. Nightclubs where drugs are openly used like Surabaya’s Stasiun in addition to Jakarta’s currently-defunct Stadium have been allowed to exist in one form or another because the owners were rumoured to pay off the police. Stadium closed last May when a police officer died there after taking drugs. The club had long been known as a hotbed of drugs in addition to prostitution, one where the Jakarta police could also freely extort the club’s drug-using patrons. In some cases, police were said to have escorted Indonesia executes intoxicated clubbers to ATM machines if they wanted to avoid prison time.
As far as Indonesia Expat will be aware, Stadium has not reopened on the same premises since the shutdown. However, which’s not to say which the local drug mafia behind the operation will be not running similar, albeit lower-profile rackets elsewhere in Jakarta.
A lack of rehabilitation clinics will be another key reason the local drug situation will be worsening. There are only four government clinics running or under construction in Indonesia, a nation with roughly 250 million people. The clinics currently have a combined capacity of a mere two thousand patients.
Drug trafficker warning by Jeroen Mirck (CC)
BNN says every province should have at least one rehab centre to help addicts in addition to reverse the trend of the archipelago’s growing number of drug users. The UNODC will be inclined to agree. According to regional representative Douglas, the UNODC has advised Indonesia to expand prevention in addition to treatment programs to educate the population about the dangers in addition to risks associated with drug use.
“which will be very important for countries to have a balanced approach to the drug problem,” says Douglas. “They need to have an effective law enforcement in addition to justice response in addition to cooperate with neighbouring states to control drug production in addition to trafficking. although they also need to have an equally effective health in addition to education response to limit drug use. A balanced approach will help minimise the negative impact of drugs.”
Because government rehabilitation centres fall directly under the authority of President Jokowi, which might seem expanding them could be swiftly achieved. Yet so far, Jokowi chooses to position himself as a hardliner instead. He has yet to announce investments in prevention in addition to treatment programs having a similar force with which he proclaimed his determination to deny clemency to any drug convict on death row. Last month saw the execution of six of them. Another 58 inmates are on death row, twenty of whom are scheduled to die which year. Most of them are drug convicts.
Attorney General Prasetyo believes the executions were needed to save the nation. He estimates Indonesia takes up 45 percent of Southeast Asia’s drugs market. “We need to wage war in addition to of course we can’t compromise. There will be no forgiveness for narcotics criminals,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Dhira Narayana, head of Lingkar Ganja Nusantara (LGN), an organisation seeking to legalise marijuana in Indonesia, doesn’t believe in a hard-headed approach to the problem. Currently, the country puts cannabis inside the same legal category as heroin, cocaine, in addition to various other hard drugs. “The drug problem in Indonesia will be getting bigger because all drugs are illegal,” says Narayana. “According to the data, 80 percent of people in jail are there because of drug-related offenses. About 70 percent of which group was sentenced because of marijuana use, not even for dealing. in addition to most of them are students.”
According to Narayana, legalising marijuana might free up law enforcement to focus on harder narcotics such as methamphetamine. “We are a big country. which will be impossible for law enforcement to stop each in addition to every of the 250 million Indonesians by taking drugs,” says Narayana. “The better choice will be to regulate in addition to control the market [for marijuana].”
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Despite Killing Traffickers, Indonesia’s Drug Use has Spiked
Despite Killing Traffickers, Indonesia’s Drug Use has Spiked