BNN to Rehabilitate 400 Thousand Drug Addicts Next Year

Jakarta, Feb 20 (Antara) - The National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) plans to rehabilitate 400 thousand drug addicts next year. The president has ordered the rehabilitation of 400 thousand drug addicts, BNN spokesman Sumirat Dwiyanto stated here, Thursday. This year, the agency has set a target to rehabilitate 100 thousand drug addicts. There are some four million drug addicts in Indonesians. The rehabilitation efforts are expected to significantly reduce the number of addicts. He forecast that there will be 75 thousand new addicts every year. He hoped that Indonesia will become free of drug addicts after conducting rehabilitation programs for a period of 12 years. The BNN has established cooperation with regional administrations and hospitals in a bid to accelerate the rehabilitation programs. "We have more than two thousand hospitals across Indonesia. If each provides 10 beds, the target will be achieved. We also have education institutions and military barracks that can be used when they are not holding any activities," he stated. He also urged the regional administrations to provide places that could be used to accommodate drug addicts undergoing rehabilitation treatment. Every day, some 30-40 people, mostly youngsters, die due to illicit drugs in Indonesia, which has seen an increase in the number of drug users, particularly among juveniles. At least 4.5 million Indonesians are drug addicts, and around 70 percent of them are from the younger generation. Of the total number, 1.2 million users cannot be rehabilitated due to their dire conditions. Most of the drug addicts are students and other members of the younger generation. They constitute 75 percent of the total number of drug addicts. Indonesia has recorded the largest number of narcotics transactions in the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, he added. Narcotics transactions across the ASEAN region have been worth some Rp110 trillion, of which Rp48 trillion worth of transactions were recorded in Indonesia, thereby making the country the highest-ranked in narcotics transactions.