Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – They used to be commonly found in discotheques or dark alleyways in unsavoury parts of the city, sold by professional peddlers.
But these days, school campuses are the easiest place to find illegal drugs, and children who are barely into their teens are not only a target market, some have been forced to sell the drugs to fund their addiction.
Indonesia is fighting an uphill battle against the biggest threat to its future generations – a rapidly growing addiction to drugs among its youth, some as young as primary school students. In the past five years, Jakarta police recorded 25,300 drug-related cases, including users and traffickers, involving students of all ages in the capital.
High school students hold the record with 10,000 cases from 1997 through last year, followed by 7,500 cases involving junior high school students and 7,000 cases involving university students.
But the most alarming revelation to young parents here is that some 800 of the cases in the past five years involved children in primary schools. This year, in the district of North Jakarta alone, 30 primary school children were caught with drugs, either delivering or using them.
Major-General Togar Sianipar, the operational chief of the National Narcotics Board (BNN), told The Straits Times: "About 60 per cent of the drug abusers in this country are between 15 and 24 years of age." And about the same percentage of the 33.7 million youths aged between 18 and 24 years has taken some form of illegal drugs, he said.
They normally started out by smoking marijuana, then moved on to taking ecstasy and shabu-shabu, the street name for crystal methamphetamine or "ice", before graduating to putaw, a low-quality heroin derivative which is commonly administered through injection.
The sharing of needles has intensified the chance of contracting fatal diseases such as HIV/Aids and Hepatitis B and C. Since 1996, the number of people who have contracted HIV/Aids through unsterilised drug injections in Indonesia has increased tenfold to 43,000 cases as of December last year. Three out of every four new cases of HIV in the past two years involved intravenous drug users.
Maj-Gen Togar said supplies of drugs have been overwhelming in the past few years, making them more affordable for schoolchildren. Drugs can be commonly found around school areas – at food stalls or from parking attendants.
Some students are also coaxed into becoming delivery boys or girls to make extra money, before they are tempted to try the drugs themselves. Worse, at some schools, underpaid teachers or mothers of pupils were involved in the drug trade as well, said anti-drug activists.
The country's porous borders and lax law enforcement at entry points have made it easy to smuggle illegal drugs or the chemicals used to make them. Much of the marijuana and ecstasy sold here are produced locally, but shabu and putaw are still mostly imported. Maj-Gen Togar said drug syndicates are also protected by some members of the police or the military.
His group has ordered stricter policing of entry points, including scrutinising people who come from countries where drug traffickers originate. BNN is also working on a "demand reduction campaign" with independent organisations in an attempt to encourage schoolchildren to stay away from drugs.