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UN calls on Indonesia to build comprehensive mechanisms for illicit drug control
Indonesia must implement comprehensive and balanced strategies to address illicit drug use, both on the supply and demand sides, as a new UN report says the country is experiencing a rising prevalence of the abuse of crystal methamphetamine in recent years, a UN official has said.
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Harmful substance -- The Parepare Police in South Sulawesi foil an attempt to smuggle crystal methamphetamine, also called shabu-shabu, into the regency recently. They named two people suspects in the case. (thejakartapost.com/Andi Hajramurni)
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ndonesia must implement comprehensive and balanced strategies to address illicit drug use, both on the supply and demand sides, as a new UN report says the country is experiencing a rising prevalence of the abuse of crystal methamphetamine in recent years, a UN official has said.
"A country should always conduct self-examinations to constantly look at what they're doing to see if [their strategies] work," the Indonesia country manager of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Collie F. Brown, said on Friday during a media briefing on the 2016 World Drug Report.
Methamphetamine seizures in East and Southeast Asia almost quadrupled between 2009 and 2014, he said, citing the report’s findings.
Brown’s call corresponded to what was concluded by a document that came out of the UN General Assembly's special session on the world drug problem (UNGASS) in April this year, which calls for "comprehensive, balanced and integrated rights-based approaches."
Indonesia is a source, transit and destination country of meth, Brown said. "Meth is very very addictive to the extent that when you have consumers, you’re always going to have a supply," he said.
He said governmental mechanisms and policies must encompass both law enforcement and health. He emphasized the importance of drug programs that were effective and designed with integrity so they could achieve good outcomes.
In addressing the supply side, Brown said the general capacity of authorities needed to be enhanced. Citing an example, he pointed out that illicit drug trafficking often piggybacked on licit trade. Therefore authorities' capacity to identify modes of moving drugs should be improved, he added.
Brown also advised caution related to the integration of Southeast Asian countries in the ASEAN Economic Community, since as borders disappeared it would be harder for authorities to monitor the movement of goods.
He also said there needed to be a balance between drug controls on the supply side and treatment programs for drug users to address the problem on the demand side. He urged health authorities, including the government, to see whether their treatment programs were "established, designed, developed based on the science, based on what we know works".
Brown said most drug abusers also had mental problems. In such a context, it was crucial to address both the drug problems and the mental health issues to ensure successful treatment.
“If you’re not addressing the person in terms of an overall approach and you’re just addressing one thing, your efforts are going to fail," he said. (ebf)
