INDONESIA'S DRUG PROBLEM LIES IN MYTHS AND HEARSAY

Indonesia's current attitudes toward drugs does not reflect sound
knowledge concerning the problem. The huge percentage of prisoners
convicted on drugs charges in our prisons suggests that the use of
drugs in this country is much more widespread than corruption.

Tobacco is not considered a drug here and cigarette companies
advertise aggressively using images of sports and music to sell their
products. The government also reaps a large income through the
taxation of tobacco.

Alcohol, being prohibited under most interpretations of Islam, has a
more definite position. Apart from being heavily taxed, the sale of
alcohol is strictly regulated. However, the many news stories of
police confiscating home-brew in local papers indicate that alcohol
consumption, although underground, is widespread.

Recently, an Indonesian drug authority has said that ganja
(marijuana) might be legalized in some places here (The Jakarta Post,
June 2). All over the Islamic world, from Morocco to Aceh, we can
find the traditional use of marijuana, while the Hindu Shadus in
India worship Shiva with cannabis. It appears that in times past
cannabis was considered the intoxicant of choice in communities that
shunned alcohol.

Although Islamic countries currently prohibit the use of marijuana,
it is still widely popular even under pain of death. In Malaysia,
there are several Acehnese men on death row for importing marijuana,
while recent police raids of several prisons here found plentiful
stores of ganja in the narcotics sections of the prisons. As a plant,
cannabis has many uses. The fibers of the stem can be used to make
good quality rope, textiles as well as paper. The flower buds are
used as an intoxicant and can be ingested orally or smoked.

In Holland, there are ganja coffee shops that prove popular with
tourists and in the UK there is an annual "legalize marijuana" march
every May. Moreover, experiments carried out by the Brixton Police in
London showed that going soft on ganja allowed the police more time
to pursue more serious crimes such as muggings and hard drug dealing.

Brixton is an area of London with a large population of West Indian
immigrants who traditionally use ganja for recreational and also for
religious purposes. The Rastafarian religion shuns alcohol but uses
ganja as a sacrament, and reggae poets such as the late Bob Marley
and Peter Tosh have for a long time campaigned for the legalization
of the plant.

However, Indonesian law still states that ganja is a drug of the same
class as heroin and cocaine. Under current laws, the possession of
ganja is a crime much more serious than the possession of
crystal-methamphetamines. This might be one of the reasons why
crystal-meth, called sabu-sabu, is popular among drug-taking policemen here.

In places such as the UK, crystal-meth is considered one of the most
dangerous drugs on the streets. It is highly addictive and causes
teeth to rapidly rot, in addition to impotency, paranoia and extreme
and violent behavior. It destroys not only users' lives, but also
those of the co-dependents -- the people around the addict.

The medicinal use of ganja has been proven to be beneficial in cases
such as multiple sclerosis. Though UK researchers recently found that
the heavy use of new strains of hybrid ganja -- referred to as
"skunk" on the streets -- which is much stronger than the traditional
varieties, could cause serious mental problems such as schizophrenia.

The long-term use of traditional and natural cannabis has also been
well documented and researchers have found that the ill effects are
for the most part caused by the tobacco used to mix with the cannabis
buds when smoked. Many ex-hippies in their 70s are now still smoking
weed and some find that their short-term memory fails them.

The loss of short-term memory is the most widely documented negative
effect of ganja. Heavy and long-term use of legal drugs like tobacco
and alcohol has been found to have far more severe consequences than
the heavy use of traditional ganja.

In liberal countries that legalize and regulate the use of drugs, no
increase in drug usage in society has been found. It seems that if
people wish to use drugs, they will do so regardless of whether they
are threatened by the gallows as in Malaysia and Pakistan.

It was the same in Indonesia under the Dutch, when the government
regulated and monopolized the sale and usage of opium. Visitors to
the opium dens wasted away in the public eye, and people, especially
the young and impressionable, could see for themselves the ill
effects of opium without it being glorified by misinformation and
criminalization. As drugs go underground, young people are more prone
to glorifying them and criminal networks more likely to profit.

True information about drugs is most important in a comprehensive
drug policy. Fear mongering does not work. However profitable it may
be -- think of the potential boost in tourism -- the idea of
decriminalizing cannabis in Indonesia is sure to be vehemently
opposed. Before we even think of taking that step, it would be wise
to review our drug laws.

It is absurd to have laws that imply that crystal-meth is less
dangerous than marijuana and that a shot of heroin or a snort of
cocaine is comparable to a puff of ganja. When young people look up
independent drug information and find the truth, they lose respect
for authority. If they don't find the truth, but rather find myths
and hearsay, they are liable to tread down the dangerous path of
addiction and, ultimately, death.

The writer is a rice farmer and artist living in Ngawi, East Java.