T

he government has decided to change strategy in its drug eradication campaign by no longer treating drug users as criminals and instead focusing on a stepped-up harm reduction program.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said that it would be more consistent in applying Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics, which promotes and protects the basic rights of drug users, and would treat them as victims rather than criminals.

Junior Attorney General for Supervision Marwan Effendy said the law required drug addicts and drug users to be sent to rehabilitation centers for medical treatment instead of being sent to jail.

“This is different from Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which regarded drug addicts and users as criminals who should receive jail terms as punishment,” Marwan said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Marwan said that the policy shift was aimed at protecting the basic rights of drugs addicts. Indonesia has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which mandates that victims of drug abuse should not be imprisoned. Indonesia ratified the covenant in 2005.

Marwan also said that the government was focusing on harm reduction programs after learning that incarcerating drug abusers had contributed little to the war on drugs.

A joint study by the University of Indonesia (UI) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) found that there were 3.3 million drug users in Indonesia in 2008. By 2011, the number had increased to between 3.8 million and 4.2 million.

The study warned that if the government failed to take meaningful action the number of drug users in the country would soar in 2015 to between 5.1 million and 5.6 million.

“So, we haven’t seen a drop in the total number of drug users even though we’ve been punishing them severely,” Marwan said.

In several developed countries such as Australia, drug users and drug addicts are sent to rehabilitation centers so that they can be treated by professionals.

Through the 2009 Narcotics Law, Indonesia is seeking to adopt this method. Under the law, drug addicts and users will receive medical treatment at rehabilitation centers, with varying lengths of stay depending on the level of dependency.

Deliberation of the new drug law also took into consideration that the country’s penitentiaries had developed into centers for drug distribution. In recent years, the police and BNN have uncovered drug trafficking operations controlled by drug lords from behind bars.

Data from the NGO the Advocacy Group for Drugs Policy revealed that 40 percent of the 132,000 prison inmates in the country were active drug users.

Under the new drug law, prison would be strictly reserved for drug traffickers.

The law stipulates sentences for drug traffickers ranging from four years’ imprisonment to the death penalty.

The National Police said that they were now working to draw up mechanisms to effectively separate drug traffickers from drug users.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Djumadi Raharjo of the National Police narcotics directorate said that his office was working on details of a new procedure on how to identify drug users, drug addicts, drug traffickers and drug producers.

Jumadi said that it was easier to identify drug traffickers and drug producers because they were mostly on police lists.

The new drug law also makes it easier to identify drug traffickers and drug producers based on the quantity of drugs found at crime scenes.

Police have difficulties determining drug users from drug addicts, a procedure necessary to decide on the type of treatment and rehabilitation centers to be made available.

“Currently, we can only rely on confessions from suspected drug users and run visual checks on their physical condition,” Djumadi said.

The Supreme Court however said that the new approach in the war against drugs as mandated by the 2009 Narcotics Law could lead to abuses.

Supreme Court spokesperson Djoko Sarwoko said that the law could in fact be used by drug lords to escape punishment.

“We should therefore critically monitor the implementation of this law,” Djoko said. (riz)