ABOUT 60 PCT OF DRUG USERS IN DEPOK YOUNG PEOPLE

Depok, West Java, June 18 (ANTARA) - Depok Mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail said here on Thursday that around 60 percent of those involved in illicit drug cases in Depok were young people.

"The drug abuse has reached a worrying point, especially for the sustainable process of the national regeneration," Nur Mahmudi said.

The nation might experience a lost generation phenomena due to the increasing drug abuse, he said.

The largest number of drug abuses and victims was youths, he said.

Drug abuse was a latent danger which needed special attention and care from all elements of the community, as it could destroy morality and characteristic of the nation's younger generation, he explained.

He reminded all parties to deal with the drug problem comprehensively, not partially.

"Don't only question about who use the drugs, who are the traffickers, and who are the producers," he said.

The Depok authorities have declared a war against drug abuse and worked hard to implement integrated preventive, repressive and rehabilitative moves, he said.

Since 2006, the number of people abusing substances in Indonesia has risen almost six-fold to 3.2 million.

As many as 51,000 people died each year from drug abuse in Indonesia with amount of economic losses from drug abuse continues to rise in the coming years.

"The number is very concerning. On average, 41 addicts die every day or two per hour," Commissioner Thamrin Dahlan, Head of Indonesian police division that oversees drug abuse (BNN), said recently.