Indonesia

Domestic Drug Use

Indonesia's primary drug of abuse is marijuana, followed by methamphetamine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy. Although there are cases of methamphetamine and marijuana from Indonesia being trafficked in the neighboring country of Malaysia, the majority of marijuana grown in Indonesia is for domestic consumption. According to the Indonesian National Narcotics Agency, there are just over one million drug users in the country. Despite government protestations that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections from injected drug use are not prevalent in Indonesia, international HIV statistics reveal that Indonesia's HIV rates are largely driven by injected drug use. Accounts of Malaysia and Vietnam experiencing increases in HIV cases that are associated with tainted narcotics paraphernalia is an indication that the Indonesian government is likely downplaying its reported rates.

Indonesia's greatest increases in injected drug use are occurring in poor urban areas that are plagued by violence, unemployment, high rates of alcohol consumption, drug dealing, and crime. According to reports generated by an Australian study of drug behaviors in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, those who started injecting street grade heroin did so after taking other drugs, notably marijuana. This study also revealed that heroin and other opiates did not [Page 383]become widely available until the mid-1990s. Perhaps the most important finding of the study was that prior to the late 1990s, those who used heroin did so by inhaling it. The reason for the shift to injection was because of the type of heroin that became available. Individuals reporting in the study claimed that prior to 2000, almost all heroin that was available was in a base form that is inhaled, whereas the heroin that has been widely available since then is not suitable for inhalation and is more easily employed in injected form. This study therefore reinforces the Indonesian government's assertion that there were very few HIV cases prior to 2000. It also indicates that Indonesia is not the source country and is reliant upon worldwide drug trafficking trends for its opiate supply.

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