A number of former drug users in Surabaya, East Java, have been providing therapy and education on the impact of oplosan (bootleg liquor) on addicts to help reduce the number of unnecessary deaths.

The therapy and education are provided through what they call an education, rehabilitation and therapy house, established by former drug users grouped under the non-profit organization East Java Action.

'€œIf I can quit drinking oplosan then you can also do the same,'€ Lukman Hakim, 38, of the therapy house told participants of the rehabilitation program on Friday.

Lukman admitted that before he had started consuming narcotics, such as shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and marijuana, he had drunk oplosan since he was in junior high school in 1987.

He was introduced to oplosan by friends living in the religious Ampel subdistrict in Surabaya.

Lukman revealed that he had even once been detained in the Banyu Urip military district in the city for having been involved in a brawl after consuming the bootleg liquor.

'€œAlthough I lived in a religious area, consuming oplosan was a habit among teens. My neighbor was a drug dealer at that time,'€ Lukman revealed.

'€œOf course it'€™s very hard to resist the temptation, but if you join activities in this place you can eventually stop drinking cukrik,'€ added Lukman, referring to the local variant of oplosan.

He said the house initially focused on narcotics users and started to pay attention to oplosan drinkers only at the end of August this year because the liquor continued to claim lives.

Lukman added that many of the participants in the house'€™s rehabilitation program incorrectly believed that oplosan was not banned by the government and found it was easier to obtain than legally marketed alcoholic drinks.

In Tulungagung, for example, the number of junior high school students consuming oplosan is higher than those using drugs.

'€œOplosan is much more affordable for them than legally marketed alcoholic drinks or narcotics,'€ Lukman said.

According to anti-alcohol activists, oplosan claims 18,000 lives annually in Indonesia. The figure is higher than those dying because of narcotics abuse, which claims nearly 15,000 people annually.

In Sumedang and Garut, West Java, at least 27 people died and more than 100 others were admitted to hospital earlier this month after drinking oplosan.

'€œAn educative approach is needed to reduce the impact of oplosan, although this is very controversial. It is like educating people to use condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and having this considered the same as legalizing prostitution,'€ Lukman said.

A participant in the rehabilitation program provided by the house, Ferry (not his real name), said that he did not know that oplosan was illegal as he could easily find the product on the market with well-produced packaging and at affordable prices.

'€œNow that I have joined the program, I will try to eventually quit drinking,'€ Ferry said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama'€™s (NU) East Java branch, Hasan Mutawakkil Alallah, urged the government to be more serious in cracking down on illegal alcoholic drinks, especially traditional ones.

Hasan expressed support for regulations banning the sale of alcoholic drinks in shopping centers, arguing that the people needed to be protected from such beverages.

The spokesperson of the Tanjung Perak Port police, Adj. Comr. Lily Djafar, said police continued to raid oplosan distributors in the hope of preventing fatalities from the consumption of the liquor.

'€œLast Thursday we arrested oplosan producers and sellers and seized 55 liters of oplosan during a raid,'€ Lily said.

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