UN urges Indonesia to stop imprisoning drug users

The Associated Press ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 10/16/2008 9:34 PM  |  Headlines

The United Nations urged Indonesia on Thursday to treat drug abusers like patients, not criminals, saying the shift could help prevent an explosion in HIV infections.

The roughly 28,000 drug users jailed by Indonesia should be in clinics, not detention facilities, said Christian Kroll, the U.N. global coordinator for HIV/AIDS.

"People who injected drugs have a disease," Kroll told reporters in the capital, Jakarta. "People who have a disease don't belong in prison. They need to be treated."

Up to 25 percent of convicted drug users in Indonesian prisons are believed to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the National AIDS Commission estimates. Drug use is rampant in detention facilities and each year dozens of inmates die of AIDS while in custody.

Indonesia has one of Asia's fastest-growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections among 235 million people, fueled mainly by the use of injected drugs and prostitution.

Indonesia, which has just 45 drug rehabilitation centers, urgently needs to expand its drug treatment capacity, Kroll said.

The government has taken initial steps to decriminalize drug use, said Nafsiah Mboi, a senior National AIDS Commission official, while also warning that clinics would be overwhelmed if drug users were released at once.
 

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