GAC008 Assessment Event 4: Academic Research Essay

Effects of Indonesia’s

Government Policy on Illicit Drug

Use

Student’s Name: Lindsay Zhang

Student ID: XI-4/20

Teacher: Bunga Chandra F., S.Pd

Due date: May, 10th 2024

Word Count: 1175

10/5/2024 Page 2
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Question: A lot of people have been worried about the government’s drug regulations in

Indonesia. What do you think? Tell me about your opinions about this.

In 2021, it was reported from Kominfo.jatimprov.go.id that the number of drug abuse among

teenagers has reached more than fifty percent of the total drug abuse in Indonesia. Even worse, 82.4%

of children were users, 47.1% were dealers, and 31.4% were couriers, stated by KPAI (The

Indonesian Child Protection Commission). This really makes us more aware of the situation. Drug

itself actually is a type of substance that can affect the way your brain works, how you feel and

behave, your understanding, and your senses. Regarding the bad effects on human’s brain, drug

consumption and distribution are illicit in this country. The government set up regulations to manage

the complicated case of drug abuse, that is Act 35 year 2009. Unfortunately, drug use cases are

increasing from year to year. People start wondering if there are some weaknesses of the government's

policy related to illegal drug use in Indonesia.

The first weakness is that the Indonesian government’s policy on illegal drug use has light

punishment. Article 111 section 1 mentions that the minimum year of prison is only 4 years with a

minimum charge of IDR 800,000,000.00. This punishment is not really effective compared to the

effect of illegal drug use on Indonesian people. Kompas.id reported that from 2022 to 2023, there are

768 drug cases with 1,209 involved in it. The government also found out that 2,429 tons of

methamphetamines, 1,902 tons of shabu, 1,6 tons of dried cannabis, 184,1 tons of wet cannabis,

cannabis field for 79,4 hectares, 262,983 pills of ecstasy, and 16,5 kilograms of ecstasy powder.

While in that period, BNN already confiscated around 5,6 tons of shabu, 6,4 tons of cannabis, and

454,475 ecstasy pills. This is such a big number of narcotics use, which shows that the punishment

alone cannot help to fix this issue.

The second weakness of the government’s drug law is that the lack of control contributes a lot to the

increase of drug use. There had been a reaction from people who are worried because of the narcotics

spread. It was found in Trisakti University on August 12 last year, students consuming drugs, raids on

places where drugs are used and distributed. A lot underage students are consuming drugs because of
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this. Careless teachers and apathetic parents make the drugs easily enter school circumstances. A

weak professionalism and morality in law enforcers might be the driving factor of this issue.

Another weakness of the government’s drug law is that the approach to narcotics policy reform

doesn’t align with the country’s constitution that upholds human rights, public health and harm

reduction. The 2021 World Drug Report explains that only 13% of Narcotics users have problems

with their use, so not all Narcotics users need mandatory rehabilitation as conceptualized by the

Indonesian government. Drug users are victims, and they should be rehabilitated while narcotics

dealers are the one that should be punished. However, Indonesian regulations still treat both drug

users and dealers with equal punishment. If the Indonesian laws still imprison drug users behind bars

instead of finding the core of the problem (which are the dealers), this type of handling won't fix the

country’s drug issue. Until now, there hasn’t been any clear rule regarding the country’s restrictions

on changing, exporting, or inserting a substance into a certain class of narcotics. The laws should be

reconsidered and corrected immediately before drug cases in Indonesia increase.

If the person has more than 1 kg of marijuana or 5 g of cocaine, for example, they can face life

imprisonment. If you are dealing in these volumes, you can be put to death. An event had happened to

two Brazilians in 2015. Marco Archer, 53, was executed by firing squad in January of that year. He

had been sentenced to death in 2004, after being arrested with 11 kg of cocaine inside hang glider

tubes. Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte, 42, was executed in April of the same year, after being arrested in

2004 for trying to enter the country with 6 kg of cocaine hidden in surfboards. According to this, he

Indonesian government ignored the fact that Gularte had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, in two

separate reports. Lawyer Gunawan assisted in the defense of Gularte.

According to lawyer George Havenhand, of Reprieve, those who are users should not be included in

articles 111 and 112 of the narcotics law, which provide for between 4 and 12 years in prison. They

should be tried under Article 127, which provides for a maximum sentence of 4 years or

rehabilitation. But in practice, the police target users. “If they can’t pay a [bribe], they are more likely

to be arrested under articles 111 or 112,” says Havenhand, author of the study “Reorienting Drug
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Policy in Indonesia”, published in June. Rich people are rarely detained, says Octavian. “The most

common method is to release the accused after receiving a certain amount… when someone is

arrested and not taken immediately to the police station, the police officer is usually negotiating in the

car.” (Indonesian drug policy under scrutiny 2020).

To sum up, we can see about all of these fragilities of the Indonesian government’s policy dealing

with drug abuse. Their laws are not effective enough to control the number of drugs that are sold and

consumed in this country. People are concerned about the spread of drugs in this country, not

knowing the carelessness of drug users’ caregivers. It becomes worse when the policy doesn’t concern

of human rights, public health, and harm reduction. This is a good lesson for all of us to understand

that drug use is a serious case that must be handled seriously. Otherwise, this vicious cycle will

happen again and again, and it will become an obstacle for Indonesia to be a developed country.
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References
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2024]

Peringatan, Ada 4,8 Juta Penduduk Terpapar Narkotika (2023), Kompas.id [online]. Available at:
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narkotika?
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Drug Abuse Among Teenagers (2023), Isotek Indo [online]. Available at:
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Perlunya Perubahan Besar Dalam Undang-Undang Narkotika (2022), Lembaga Bantuan Hukum
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Indonesia Drugs Report 2022 (2022), ISBN [online], Available at:

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Purcell, A. (2020), Indonesian drug policy under scrutiny [online], Available at:
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Santoso, T. & Silalahi, A. (2000), Penyalahgunaan Narkoba di Kalangan Remaja [online].

Available at: https://www.neliti.com/publications/4232/penyalahgunaan-narkoba-di-

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Undang-undang Republik Indonesia no, 35 Tahun 2009 Tentang Narkotika [online]. Available at:

https://luk.staff.ugm.ac.id/atur/UU35-2009Narkotika.pdf [Accessed 9 May 2024]