A Simple Case of “Do the Crime, Do the Time”?

Kelly Buchanan

People who try to bring illegal drugs into any country are clearly taking a high risk in order to obtain the returns they seek.  In some countries, including a number in Southeast Asia, the stakes are very high indeed, as those caught with drugs may face the death penalty or a considerable number of years in prison.  Most people are aware of this (there have even been movies about it), but just last week I read a story about yet another Australian citizen facing drug charges in Indonesia after being caught at a Bali airport with nearly four pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

Why Indonesia Should Liberalize Its Drug Laws

Luc Loranhe




Indonesia is probably the country with the strictest anti-drug laws in the world.

In Indonesia, you don't have to be caught with any drugs to face a jail sentence of several years (which is almost a death sentence, as any person imprisoned for a considerable length of time will likely contract malaria, or HIV as a consequence of prison rape, or face other severe health problems).

Drug law reform - A Global Snapshot

Sanji Gunasekara




The Law Commission’s current review of the Misuse of Drugs Act is a rare opportunity for New Zealand to drag its drug laws into the 21st century. Around the world, several other countries have also recently re-examined their drug laws. In this feature, Sanji Gunasekara reviews the global state of drug law reform and finds that, while there is a trend towards more public health-focused legislation, sometimes it is a case of one step forward, two steps back.

Indonesia Adopts New Repressive Narcotics Law

International Drug Policy Consortium


A new Narcotics Law was adopted by the Parliament in Jakarta in September 2009. Although a careful textual analysis of the legislation is still needed, it is clear that the political considerations far outweighed sensible drug policy arguments in the adoption process, which is reflected in the texts. As a consequence, the new law did not represent a move away from a repressive approach to drugs and their use towards a more considerate and complex legislation. At the same time with the adoption of the Narcotics Law, a new health law was passed by the legislative assembly. The linkages between these two pieces of legislation and their impact on drug treatment are still unclear. The appropriate response is still considered by both national and international stakeholders. A report from the Community Legal Aid Institute in Jakarta printed in their newsletter CAVEAT outlines the problems with the new legislation.


http://www.idpc.net/sites/default/files/alerts/CAVEAT%20-%20Vol%2004%20-%20I%20A4.pdf

Source: http://www.idpc.net/alerts/indonesia-new-drug-law-repressive

Southeast Asia: New Indonesian Drug Law Draws Human Rights Criticisms

Phillip Smith

After four years of debate, Indonesia's parliament passed a new drug law Monday. It was immediately criticized by reformers on numerous counts.

The new law maintains the death penalty for some drug offenses, criminalizes drug addiction, and makes it a crime for parents to fail to report their addicted children to authorities. The law also transfers responsibility for fighting drug trafficking from the government to civil society.

"The drugs law will save our children and young generation. It will be essential in the fight against drug trafficking," said Minister for Law and Human Rights Andi Mattalatta after the bill was passed. "Currently, drug dealing is not only conducted by individuals but by drugs syndicates that operate neatly," he said.

Indonesia’s life or death Drug Laws

Annabloch

On Monday 15 September 2009, the Indonesian Parliament voted in stricter drugs laws as part of the Government's efforts to toughen up their national "War on Drugs".

The law maintains the death penalty for some drug offences and has criminalised drug addiction. Now, Indonesian parents must also be aware that they have committed a crime if they fail to notify the authorities of their drug addicted children.

Drug Addicts Branded As Criminals Under New Law

The Jakarta Post

The House of Representatives passed the anti-narcotics bill into law Monday amid criticism from anti-drug groups that the newly passed law will not help rehabilitate drug addicts.

“This law classifies drug addicts as criminals and therefore subjects them to criminal charges, while doctors have said that drug addiction is a curable disease,” the Indonesian Coalition for Drug Policy Reform (ICDPR) coordinator Asmin Fransisca told reporters outside the House’ plenary session hall.

“The law should have recognized that a proper solution to drug addiction is to empower drug addicts, not to punish them as criminals.”

Drug policy revolution in Indonesia?

Rido Triawan

Mexico passed a controversial law on Aug. 20, 2009, decriminalizing people's personal use of drugs. Under the new law, the maximum amount of marijuana that can be considered for personal use is 5 grams - the equivalent of about four marijuana cigarettes. Other limits are half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

Anyone caught with possession of drug amounts below and up to the allowed limit for their personal use will be encouraged to seek treatment. For those caught a third time, treatment is mandatory - although there are no specified penalties for noncompliance.

This demand-reduction policy contradicts the supply-reduction policy adopted by the Mexican government. In terms of supply reduction, Mexico uses a traditional approach to national security and transnational crime reduction. The use of police and military forces is chosen by the government to reduce the supply of illicit drugs into Mexico.

Without doubt, the decriminalization policy is a progressive effort to humanize people who use drugs. Addiction in general, including addiction to all kind of drugs, is no longer viewed as a kind of behavior. Through this new policy, it is already being viewed as a kind of disease. Some experts define addiction as a chronic disease similar to other chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Indonesia's Drug Fight Pushes Prison AIDS Explosion

Aubrey Belford (AFP)


JAKARTA — Their tattooed skin hanging loosely from hollowed-out limbs, the young men in the clinic at the edge of Jakarta's Cipinang Narcotic Prison lie limply across black vinyl beds.


The half-dozen inmates are in the advanced stages of HIV/AIDS, and are part of a crisis that has seen the disease sweep through Indonesia's overcrowded, squalid and corrupt prisons.

For Indonesian Drug Users, HIV and Addiction Present a Double Burden

Quietly and destructively, starting in the mid-1990s a low-grade form of heroin known as putaw found a thriving market in Indonesia's cities. The sharp increase in injection drug use led to a dramatic rise in HIV/AIDS among users. Today, Indonesia finds itself battling twin epidemics of drug addiction and HIV/AIDS.

For HIV/AIDS advocates and activists in this Southeast Asian archipelago, fighting HIV/AIDS among injection drug users (IDUs) takes place in a world of contradiction. "IDUs are the easiest people to work with—and the most difficult," says Samuel Nugraha, a longtime HIV counselor who is now with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime HIV/AIDS unit in Indonesia and who serves on TREAT Asia's steering committee. "Compared with other vulnerable groups, they have less shame, they're not hidden so it's relatively easy to reach them. But they are addicts, and the addiction itself is often too much to overcome. When it comes to adherence to medication or responsibility, their priority is their addiction."

Indonesia: Drug Offenders Executed, More To Come

Indonesia shot two Nigerian men for drug offences late on Thursday night, and drug officials hope more executions will soon be carried out.

Samuel Iwachekawu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa were executed before midnight on Thursday (26 June) on Nusakambangan prison island, off the coast of central Java.

Indonesia’s Growing Drug Problem

Two years ago, Indonesian authorities tied a 32-year-old Thai woman named Namsong Sirilak and a 62-year-old Indian named Saelow Prasert to palm trees at dawn in northern Sumatra and shot them for trafficking in heroin -- only weeks after the execution of their Indian accomplice, Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey.


That might have been a spectacular answer to Indonesia’s growing problem with illegal drugs, but so far it doesn’t seem to be doing much good. Despite Jakarta’s declaration of war on drugs, traffickers continue to tap into the increasingly lucrative Indonesian market, already awash with cheap speed, ecstasy and heroin as the archipelago nation begins to catch up with the drug use problems that Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines especially have been fighting for decades.

Indonesia's Life Or Death Battle Against Drugs

Tim Lindsey and Simon Butt.


Australians caught in Indonesia's drug purge face harsh penalties

Indonesia is in the middle of a major anti-drug crack-down that began last year when trafficking cases leapt to 7410 compared with 1833 in 1999. Indonesian police havearrested more than 700 people in recent raids across the country. In Jakarta alone there were about 150 arrests in April, some resulting in shoot-outs. Several foreigners were executed last year for drug offences.

Indonesia Seeks Death Sentence For Drugs Suspect

Indonesian police today vowed to make an example of an Australian woman who could face a firing squad for allegedly smuggling drugs into Bali.

Prosecutors have promised to seek the toughest possible sentence for Schapelle Leigh Corby, who could be put to death over a 4.1kg cannabis haul found in her luggage when she arrived on the resort island on October 8.

From Jungkies to Jihad

Laine Berman
Inside Indonesia (progressive quarterly), Collingwood, Australia


Faisal and Jhoni came to Athonk’s tattoo studio with a small picture and a lot of hope. It was their own design. They had both tried kicking their putauw (street-grade heroin) habits through a variety of rehabilitation programs. All failed. Now, they were trying something particularly strange for young urban trendies—a spiritual approach. They had designed a picture to be tattooed into their skin while they prayed. The tattoo needle would be the last needle ever to penetrate their skin.


That was in 2000. By 2002, both of these talented, well-known musicians from Jakarta were dead from drug-related problems. According to local statistics, so too were 17.8 percent of drug users throughout Indonesia.