WE SHOULD TRY TO STOP DRUG ABUSE

JAKARTA (JP): Few people in Indonesia can now be unaware that we face a
major threat from drugs. Hardly a day goes by without a report of a drug
seizure, arrest of a trafficker, or a death by overdose. We are seeing
wider evidence of our young people turning to injecting themselves with
heroin or other illicit drugs. And slowly the size of the problem of
transmission of HIV and AIDS that this brings is becoming more apparent.

Last month, the Ministry of Health reported another 59 cases of HIV and
AIDS resulting from injecting drug use. Now, this is the cause of one in
four of the reported cases of infection, up from less than one in a hundred
less than two years back.

For the first time, the ministry also reported the breakdown of cases of
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome caused by sharing needles: 86 per cent
are under 30. Bearing in mind that it usually takes at least 10 years after
infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus before people show the
symptoms of AIDS, that means that the vast majority became infected in
their teens, in many cases in their early teens.

Is our message about the dangers of drug use reaching children in that age
group? Some, but clearly not all. We can consider the glass as half full,
noting optimistically that a large number of our youth do not use drugs.
But what should we be doing about those we miss? Once they have become
hooked, telling them to "Just Say No" clearly is unlikely to make a
difference -- consider how hard we find it to say no to cigarettes.

The theme chosen for this year's International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking on June 26 is "Sports end Drugs"
(http://www.undcp.un.or.th/work/international%20day/sport_end_drug.htm)