Mojokerto National Narcotics Agency (BNN) team supervisor Suharsi inspects candy suspected of containing drugs, including a sweet called permen dot (dot candy), during a raid on Wednesday (8/3). Suharsi led the raid onschool canteens and local stalls, uncovering a product resembling permen dot with the label permen keras (hard candy), which the BNN intends to test for drugs. Drug dealers are targeting school-aged children by distributing drugs in candies.
Again, an alarming fact is unfolding in public: more underage children are becoming involved in the misuse of narcotics and other hazardous drugs.
Those who are involved in distributing the drugs are criminals that deserve maximum punishment. Not only do they inflate the public health costs, they are basically destroying the future of children and the nation’s next generation.
An executive summary of a 2016survey on the “Misuse and Drug Distribution Among School and University Students in 18 Provinces” conducted jointly by the National Narcotics Agency and the University of Indonesia Health Research Center, shows that addicted children and youths generally began using drugs for the first time at the age of 16, with the youngest at 10 and the eldest at 27.
Ironically, these underage children become not only users, but also drug dealers. This finding is shown in the data of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (KPAI) that 42 children appeared to be drug dealers in 2014, whose ages varied and included an elementary school student.
The public, now living with high technology, faces a dilemma. On the one hand, technology helps ease people’s work or their interactions with family and friends. On the other, technology allows for the direct entry of all communication into our personal space.
There is no more checking by parents or supervision by the domestic helpers who have replaced absent parenting. Through cellular phones, information and transactions can proceed easily, quickly and quietly.
Advancements in science and technology have also produced drugs of all types and shapes, and have made them cheaper and easier to access. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports 644 types of new psychoactive substances (NPS). Of that number, 53 types are distributed in Indonesia, whereas only 40 types are actually stipulated in Law No. 35/2009 on Narcotics.
There is no other way: We must stand together to save our children, to fight against drug abuse and drug dealers. As parents, we must support our children against the invasion of all external deception by establishing an open communication based on love, care and nurturing.
Nevertheless, there is still work to be done at home. The police, state prosecutors and judges must take a harsh stance and send the drug dealers to meet the maximum sentence.
The Culture and Education Ministry already helps schools in familiarizing healthy lifestyles as well as smart ways to deal with illicit offers from friends or strangers. It is the school’s duty to manage and supervise all vendors at the school and nearby areas. The point is close all the gaps. Do not leave any space open for drugs to enter.
