P

opular television personality Raffi Ahmad is showing signs of nervousness after being in National Narcotics Agency (BNN) custody for over a week, says rehabilitation chief Kusman Suriakusumah.

He says his team is checking on Raffi’s changing condition, which has allegedly resulted from his not consuming methylenedioxymethcathinone (MDMC) for more than a week.

“He looks very anxious. He used to be friendly, but he isn’t anymore. He was usually fine chatting with us, but now he is not,” Kusman said on Tuesday after a discussion at the University of Indonesia (UI) in Depok, south of Jakarta.

Raffi was arrested on Jan. 27, when BNN officers raided his house and rounded up 16 of his friends, including former model and current Jakarta Legislative Council member Wanda Hamidah of the National Mandate Party (PAN), taking them to BNN headquarters.

Raffi could exercise his right to rehabilitation, Kusman said.

Medically speaking, he said, it was an achievement for the BNN to discover the MDMC during the raid, as addiction or long-term use of the substance in high doses could lead to acute behavioral problems.

He said MDMC users could feel paranoid or hallucinate, and in some cases could die due to cerebral vascular disease or a heart attack. “Imagine if we had never discovered the substance. It could have circulated freely and ruined everyone’s lives.”

He also raised his concerns over the obsolete 2009 Narcotics Law, which does not include MDMC among its 39 illegal substances. Only cathinone and its derivative methcathinone are included in the list of substances.

Kusman said the law needed to be revised, citing the increasing use of derivative compounds from herbs as narcotic agents.

— JP/Yuli Tri Suwarni