The emergency situation Indonesia faces concerning drugs is not only spread out horizontally in the extent of its reach, but also vertically due to the way of its distribution.
By
·3 minutes read
Antara Foto/Galih Pradipta
Police officers weigh sabu (crystal methamphetamine) at the National Police Criminal Investigation Department’s (Bareskrim) narcotics unit in Cawang, East Jakarta, on Tuesday (27/2). Police officers and customs and excise officials arrested four suspects and seized 1.6 tons of crystal meth on board the fishing boat MV Min Lian Yu Yun 61870, which had departed from Lian Ziang Port, China.
The emergency situation Indonesia faces concerning drugs is not only spread out horizontally in the extent of its reach, but also vertically due to the increasingly addictive and sophisticated way of its distribution.
Every time we read the news "Indonesia in drug emergency", we are shocked. First, there is always a jolt when imagining how devastating the effects of a drug emergency would be, the rising number of victims, also the bleak future. On the other hand, there is also anger and curiosity. The emergency drug situation is not a new issue because it has existed since the era of former president Soeharto\'s rule.
This all leads to the question: Why, after the turn of one government to another, instead of receding, does this issue continue to spiral out of control? In the media we hear and read about arrests after arrests, destruction after destruction of evidences seized and even heavier punishments, including the death penalty, yet the situation remains unchanged. If drugs were a human-like figure, it would be taunting us and jeering: "You lost!”
If horizontally, we read about more frequent arrests, vertically we also read that the wider range of drugs that are being circulated. This newspaper reported that 71 new types of drugs are already in circulation, and six of them have yet to be regulated by the Health Ministry.
From here we realize that scientific research for the multibillion-rupiah drug business is also ongoing. The drug called flakka, for example, turns users into zombies, said Indonesia Neuroscience Institute executive director Adhi Wibowo.
Moreover, in the new psychoactive substance category (NPS), there is methylone, synthetic marijuana to make a super tobacco and used in electronic cigarettes, khat and blue sapphire. They are part of a wider category that include drugs with foreign names that are easily accessible to Indonesians. Online purchases, according to Adhi, are now a common way to get them.
We have also predicted that the ways traders of these illegal goods offer their wares will be more sophisticated, using technological advancements that few people understand, such as the deep web.
Inevitably, we must sit back, review our ways of overcoming the widespread circulation of these drugs. From the above description, we must admit that we are overwhelmed. To eradicate the old types of drugs alone, we are often lost. Now, there has emerged new types of drugs that are circulated in new ways as well.
Efforts to eradicate conventional drug trafficking are also faced with new challenges. There are still those who try to smuggle drugs by plane, but many are now attempting to transport drugs through sea routes. We have to admit, our marine resources, like patrol boats, are limited and that is a weak point. There are many challenges in the fight against the increase of drug trafficking.
