INDONESIA TRIES TO KICK HABIT OF DRUG USE

Drug use is increasingly prevalent in the country, especially among
the young in Jakarta and other major cities. The Jakarta Post's
correspondents Asip Agus Hasani, MMI Ahyani, I Wayan Juniartha and
reporter T. Sima Gunawan look at efforts to halt drug abuse.

JAKARTA (JP): It was the fun of a nighttime pool-side party. The warm
air was filled with laughter as a young man plunged into the water to
the cheers of partygoers.

But the atmosphere changed when his body surfaced moments later. He
was dead.

"He died because of a drug overdose," one of the guests
recalled.

It happened at a house in South Jakarta a few years ago. Today, with
drug use increasing, reports of deaths from overdoses are not uncommon.

Some drug users are waking up to the frightening realities.

"I used to treat my friends to drug parties," says Made Dwitra (not
his real name), who is the 27-year-old son of a well-known businessman
in Denpasar. "We would drink and then take heroin."

No longer the domain of private parties and discotheques, drugs are
now found in schools.

Some high schools order students who are suspected of drug use to
undergo drug tests at the state Drug Dependency Hospital and obtain
certification they are drug-free.

Even elementary school students have confessed to taking
drugs.

An 11-year-old student told the West Jakarta District Court during the
trial of a suspected drug trafficker that he had used barbiturate
pills for six months. A teacher said 20 students in his class took the
pills.

Aji, 25, began using drugs when he was studying at a college in East
Jakarta. It changed his behavior and his life.

He became easily upset and stayed out until the early morning. He told
lies to conceal his drug use and became a "thief" to support his habit.

"At the beginning I thought it was no big deal, he was just like other
disobedient kids," Hendy, his father, says.

He realized there was a serious problem when money and valuables
started to go missing from the house.

His initial shock at finding out the truth gave way to a feeling of
blame at not raising his son properly. Hendy showered Aji with love to
help him give up drugs. Aji is now taking a 10-month drug treatment
program run by Yayasan Permata Hati Kita in Bogor, West Java.

Love also brought back hope for Risa, 22. Risa, who studied at college
in Australia, almost lost his future because of his addiction.

"I slept, woke up, ate, watched TV ... I was confused, like a walking
zombie."

He returned home early in 1998. His family discovered his addiction
but accepted him. Love and family support, many say, is vital to help
addicts recover.

An important part of the recovery process is to instill self-esteem in
addicts and convince them they are not worthless, says Joyce Djaelani
Gordon of Yayasan Permata Hati Kita.

"This is what's good about Narcotics Anonymous: when you recover, you
can help others," said Joyce, who applies the principle in the
foundation's recovery program.

Indonesia reportedly has over 1.3 million drugs abusers and addicts.
About 10 percent of them are estimated to live in Jakarta, while most
of the others are in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan,
Ujungpandang, Pakanbaru and Denpasar.

"What's more alarming is the fact that children have started to use
drugs," Joyce said.

She noted a rising trend toward adolescent drug use beginning a few
years ago along with the increase in student brawls.

"The students take barbiturate pills before they fight," she
says.

Most drugs users and addicts are young, aged between 15 and 35. While
adolescents most often use barbiturate pills or inhale intoxicating
agents like glues or gasoline, older addicts abuse ganja and heroine,
the designer drug ecstasy, shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine),
putauw (low-grade heroin) and cocaine.

Joyce believes the number of drug users sharply increased when ecstasy
became common in the country in 1996. Ecstasy is the "gateway" to
harder drugs like heroin, shabu-shabu and cocaine, she adds.

Although the dangers of drugs are well-known, the grim facts have
failed to stop drug experimentation.

A lack of experts and facilities to treat drug addiction compounds the
problem.

Joyce refers to the government's stipulation that mental hospitals set
aside 10 beds for treatment of drugs users.

"But the patients are reluctant to go to mental hospitals because they
don't want to be considered mentally ill."

Some hospitals offer detoxification programs but these usually do not
include counseling. Only recently have more treatment and recovery
centers been established.

The government is now planning to establish a special institution to
deal with drugs, with the national police chief as the head
coordinator.

The role of the police is ironic; it is an open secret that weak and
discriminative law enforcement has worsened the drug problems. Joyce
hopes the government will not overlook the social aspects of the issue.

The spread of drug abuse may exert a much greater toll on society as a
whole.

Joyce, who is also a consultant on HIV/AIDS, warns of the high risk of
transmission of the deadly virus through intravenous drug use.

In Thailand, the virus is mostly spread through this route, not by
sexual contact. In Vietnam, 60 percent of new HIV cases involve drug
addicts, she said.

Although Indonesia's HIV cases have involved sexual transmission, drug
use, including sharing needles, continues to spread. If health
administrators remain slow in dealing with the widespread drug
problem, they may face a new catastrophe on their hands.