T

he Social Affairs Ministry is aiming to set up more rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, due to severe overcrowding in prisons.

Waskito Budi Kusumo, director of social rehabilitation at the Social Affairs Ministry, said that currently the ministry had two central rehabilitation centers overseeing five provincial rehab centers in six provinces, including Yogyakarta, Banjarmasin, Palembang and Makassar.

The ministry also provides assistance to 103 NGOs in 21 provinces to develop rehab centers for drug users, and another 40 NGOs to record and produce reports on drug abuse in their regions.

'€œFor the NGOs that produce drug abuse reports, we provide them with technical and financial assistance of up to Rp 20 million (US$1,740),'€ he said. '€œOur rehab centers can only handle up to 1,000 drug users for the social rehabilitation program, but we plan to establish more rehab centers to be able to treat more drug users.'€

Budi said that to solve the problem, the ministry planned to ask the House of Representatives for more financial support.

The ministry, he said, aimed to build another main rehabilitation center in Makassar, South Sulawesi. '€œWe chose Makassar because we there is a strong commitment from the local NGOs there to help drug addicts,'€ he said.

Budi added that the ministry had requested Rp 50 billion ($4.4 million) from the House to cover construction and facility costs for the new center.

National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Insp. Gen. Anang Iskandar said that the social rehabilitation program was important to prevent drug users and dealers from becoming permanent narcotics users. '€œIf there are no sufficient rehabilitation programs, drug abuse will never be eradicated,'€ he said.

He said the lack of facilities had hindered the government'€™s drug rehabilitation programs, especially those aimed at prison inmates. Drugs users could easily return to their old habits while they were behind bars, he said.

'€œThe responsibility for solving drug abuse can'€™t only be handled by the National Narcotics Agency. Ministries and other institutions need to also take part,'€ he said.

Budi said the collaborative program was a good approach toward solving the problem of drug abuse throughout the country.

He also said he hoped the government would push for a stronger commitment from and cooperation among state institutions to address drug abuse issues.

The Social Affairs Ministry'€™s social rehabilitation director general, Syamsudin, agreed with Budi. '€œGovernment institutions need to collaborate to address the problem of drug abuse. The number of drug users has already reached an estimated 4 million, which is alarming,'€

He said the government had issued a number of regulations requiring drugs users to join the government'€™s medical and social rehabilitation programs, but many were still reluctant to do so. '€œMany drug users are hesitant to join the government program because they are afraid of being arrested and stigmatized,'€ he said. '€œWe want to change this mind-set.'€ (tam)