HOW THE DRUG WAR IS BEING LOST

The Battle of the Banners is underway in Surabaya and many other
cities. They scream "SAY NO TO DRUGS". They're part of Indonesia's
war against narcotics- - a conflict doomed to fail, according to
experts. The Jakarta Post contributor in Surabaya Duncan Graham reports:

Dony Agustinus is truly junkie tired, as the addicts say.

Though he's only 25, he carries his lean body like a man who's long
passed 40 and seen too much, crippled with the cares of the world.

Yet he hasn't had a hit for almost five years. Since June 6, 2001, to
be exact -- nine years after he started. The reason? "To be cool".

Like most reformed addicts he knows the precise moment he made the
decision to quit. He'd just been diagnosed as HIV positive, probably
through sharing dirty needles.

"I didn't know anything about the disease," he said. "I thought I had
only six months left and I didn't want to die. So I stopped."

He's lived to turn his corrosive, negative experiences into positive
action by starting a drug rehabilitation center in the hill town of
Trawas outside Surabaya.

Wahana Kinasih was funded by Dony's mother, Margarethna Nanik
Sunarni. She stayed the distance with her son through the
soul-scarifying years searching for a cure in Indonesia and overseas.

Medication, counseling, shock therapy, religion, brutality -- Dony's
had them all. He knows more about drug addiction and failed
treatments than a hall full of experts who've never felt the soaring
thrill of a hit and the wrenching agony of withdrawal.

But he has to sit politely in drug conferences and listen to doctors,
government workers, police and others tell addicts to pray
feverishly, drink coconut milk, see a paranormal -- or just decline.

"The SAY NO TO DRUGS campaign isn't working for the same reason it
didn't work in Australia 20 years ago," said Joyce Djaelani Gordon.

"It's pushed by people who have limited understanding of substance
abuse, addiction, social marketing and behavior change.

"If they'd done solid research, they would know the message say no is
translated as do. Basic psychology shows most people want to try what
they're told not to."

Joyce is a psychologist and founder of the Yayasan Harapan Permata
Hati Kita (YAKITA) addiction and treatment center at Ciawi, Bogor, West Java.

She works with her husband David, also a psychologist and former
user, helping addicts. Their strategy is based on a psychological,
spiritual approach and the 12-step Narcotics Anonymous program.

This has been built from the internationally famous and proven
Alcoholics Anonymous strategy. This provides an instant aftercare
program through regular confidential group meetings where experiences
are shared.

NA supporters believe addiction is a disease. Users have to take
responsibility for their actions and recognize a power greater than
themselves. Treatment has to involve the family often the root of the
problem. The spiritual principle is: Trust God, love yourself and
help one another.

Indonesian statistics, as former president Megawati Soekarnoputri
once observed, are not to be trusted. Officially, the police say they
handled almost 6,000 drug cases in Jakarta last year and made almost
8,000 arrests.

The Jakarta Narcotics Agency reckons there are up to 15,000 injecting
drug users in the capital alone. NGOs talk about a pandemic and say
maybe a quarter of a million people around the archipelago already
have HIV -- with the number growing daily.

One study involving the National Narcotics Agency and the University
of Indonesia claimed Indonesians are spending more than Rp 12
trillion (US$ 1 billion) on drugs.

Whatever the real numbers no one denies there's a serious problem.
The disputes come over ways to treat it.

At one extreme is the roughhouse, heavy-penalty approach. As the
junkies say -- "if your only tool is a hammer, you see every problem
as a nail."

When politicians announce "crackdowns" and "tough stances" they know
they're on a vote-winner. Electorates everywhere find the issue dirty
and too difficult to unscramble. Druggies are not nice people.
There's little sympathy -- until a family member becomes a user.

Then the awful education begins.

"Recovery is a long process," said David Gordon. "There can be four,
five or more relapses before an addict gets clean. Parents get tired,
disgusted and depressed. They lose faith in 'cures' and grow wary of
treatments."

In 2001 then president Megawati declared a "war" against drug
trafficking to much acclaim. But despite his past experiences and
present front-line commitment Dony refuses to be conscripted. The
bumper sticker on his little red car reads: DRUG ABUSE IS BAD; THE
DRUG WAR IS WORSE.

The U.S. has been running its drug war for years. Millions of dollars
have been spent and nearly 500,000 are behind bars for drug crimes.
Yet drugs get cheaper and more readily available.

The U.S.-based Drug Policy Alliance advocates public health
alternatives to the criminal justice approach; this means treatment
instead of jail for users. The Alliance says the war on drugs has
become a war against public health, constitutional rights and
families who suffer dreadfully when a breadwinner is jailed.

The reasoning runs that a war has a clearly defined enemy, while the
drug issue is too complex for them-and-us, good-and-bad solutions.
But like all snappy slogans the appeal lies in the mind-numbing simplicity.

We get warm fuzzies by sponsoring a SAY NO banner, even when it hangs
alongside a slick ad promoting cigarettes -- which many say is the
gateway drug to narcotics.

Drugs have founded a major legal industry in Indonesia. The police,
lawyers, jailers (50 per cent of prisoners have been sentenced for
drug crimes), bureaucrats, doctors, clinics, journalists, ad agents
and many other professionals are making money. They do so by
catching, prosecuting, defending, denouncing and treating users.
There's no shortage of work.

Attitudes alter when the kids of the powerful fall victim. When
former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke revealed his daughter
Roslyn was a user the image of the druggie as a down-and-out lout who
deserved no pity took a battering.

The PM's admission encouraged others to be frank, showing that drug
abuse has no class, education, social or religious barriers. Public
discussion opened the issue and the old taboos collapsed.

A new campaign began.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said Indonesia is committed to
fighting AIDS, but there is no nationally agreed strategy on
prevention and intervention.

"Countries that have adopted harm-reduction programs (like needle
exchanges, factual information and easy access to condoms) have
brought HIV/AIDS under control," said Joyce.

"However, Indonesia and the U.S., where they've focussed on
eliminating illicit drug use have seen the diseases spread rapidly."
Commented her husband David: "Indonesia has plans for action, but no
action. Few have any idea what to do."