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Therapy centers not ready for drug addicts
A recent circular ordering judges to send drug addicts to rehabilitation centers instead of prison may be meaningless due to the lack of adequate treatment centers in Indonesia
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A recent circular ordering judges to send drug addicts to rehabilitation centers instead of prison may be meaningless due to the lack of adequate treatment centers in Indonesia.
The circular was issued last month by the Supreme Court to offer judges guidance on the issue.
It argued that sending drug addicts to prison was not effective because it ignored the health aspect of drug addiction.
The memo took into consideration the conditions of overcrowded prison systems across the country.
However, there seems to have been very little coordination between the Supreme Court and the relevant institutions.
“[The Supreme Court] has not officially informed us about sending drug users to rehabilitation centers,” Makmur Sunusi, the director general for social rehabilitation services at the Social Affairs Ministry, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“We need to set up a system of cooperation with the courts to implement the policy.”
Directorate spokeswoman Juena Sitepu said only 33 drug rehabilitation centers, three of them state-owned, existed according to their records.
“The centers’ overall capacity is around 1,000 drug addicts,” she said, adding that all were located in Sumatra and Java.
Separately, National Narcotics Agency (BNN) spokesman Dikdik Kusnadi said around 60% of those incarcerated in prisons, or 40,000 inmates, were drug users in Indonesian prisons.
“We only record rehabilitation centers that meet our minimum standards. So, there may be some other centers around,” Juenas said, adding that the owners of unrecorded centers should register their facilities with the local social affairs office.
“Basically, we support the policy of sending drugs addicts to rehabilitation centers, but there is a lot to prepare,” she said.
“It’s expensive to cover treatment for drug users, such as medication and doctor’s fees. We have not allocated much for treatment in this year’s State Budget,” she said.
“Jails can even act as places for users to learn new things about the drug business,” she said.
“They can treat their time inside prisons as something like a ‘school’, to learn more from other prisoners,” Dikdik added.
In Cipinang prison in East Jakarta, for example, a convicted ecstasy dealer, Jenny Chandra, was recently found to still be dealing the drugs inside the state facility.
“Our jails’ security system is very weak. Cellular phones can be brought inside very easily, as well as drugs and needles,” Dikdik said. (bbs)
