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fficials last told us that drug abuse affects just 2.2 percent of the population. This has not comforted nervous parents. A police officer who had intended on sending her teenage son to stay with relatives in presumably safer Central Sulawesi dropped her plan, saying even small towns were not free from drug barons aiming to hook youngsters in their early years.

With sophisticated methods employed to package addictive substances so they look like candy or soft drinks, even parents of elementary students have grown worried. These glimpses help explain why few cared about Schapelle Corby, and explains the wide consensus here that drug abusers should get the highest penalty possible, meaning the death sentence if necessary. Drug abusers are not differentiated from dealers and traffickers '€” until a son or daughter is found to be an addict.

On Tuesday, seven state bodies came to an agreement that drug users would not be punished, but rather they would be sent to rehabilitation. This is a historic move, though buried under headlines of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft and updates on endless corruption cases. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is actually based on the 2009 Narcotics Law, which states that rehabilitation is mandatory for drug users. However, prosecutors have been more prone to use the articles on drug possession under the same law.

The conflicting legal interpretation has been among factors blamed for the overcrowding of prisons, which have hosted drug users convicted of possession of more than the legal limit of 5 grams of narcotics. Recent prison breaks always reveal the overcapacity of our prisons.

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi, who was among those who signed the MoU, said it was historic, as '€œfor the first time there is now a balance between legal and health approaches, so that drug users can be helped to return to society after undergoing rehabilitation'€.

By not mixing up recreational drug users, estimated at some 4 million nationwide, with dealers and traffickers, the country can better focus on the ongoing addition and improvement of rehabilitation centers. Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin, another of the signatories, said the MoU should overcome the '€œsectoral'€ approach, which thus far has not helped the 2009 Law have a deterrent effect on drug abuse.

Far from prison having a deterrent effect, some of those nabbed for possession of a few grams of banned drugs often become entangled in the lucrative business, which reportedly flourishes behind bars. Most simply fall back into old habits given the lack of effective rehabilitation programs inside prisons.

By 2015, an assessment institution should be ready to help judges handle drug-abuse cases. The success of the police and the courts in convicting the main players in the drug business will also depend on our fight against corruption.

At least the MoU should help end the stigma that equates drug users to sinners, leading families of addicts to agonize in private.