Kudos to our colleagues at Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG) for new research on police mistreatment of drug users. According to today’s report in the Nation, drug users arrested in Thailand report being forced to pay bribes to avoid arrest, and report being framed with drug plants. According to the report, which is based on interviews with 252 Thai drug users by TTAG and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, police may be struggling to meet quotas for drug arrests imposed by the government as part of its “war on drugs”.
[REPORT] Addicted to Corruption in Indonesia
By Ricky Gunawan
Rose (not her real name) has been using drugs for more than ten years. During that time, she had been arrested a number of times, and her life has been harrowing. Not long ago, she began to feel hope for the first time, when in a breakthrough decision, Indonesia’s judges decided to send her to a rehabilitation center to treat her addiction.
However, Indonesia’s rotten and corrupt judicial system dashed her hopes.
[REPORT] Abuses Against Drug Users in Indonesia
by Sara (Meg) Davis, Agus Triwahyuono, and Risa Alexander
from Harm Reduction Journal
In Indonesia, an ongoing government “war on drugs” has resulted in
numerous arrests and anecdotal reports of abuse in detention, but to
date there has been little documentation or analysis of this issue.
JANGKAR (also known in English as the Indonesian Harm Reduction
Network), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Jakarta,
surveyed 1106 injecting drug users in 13 cities about their experiences
of police abuse. Of those interviewed, 667 or 60% reported physical
abuse by police. These findings indicate the importance of continuing
efforts to promote police reform and harm reduction in Indonesia.
We’re delighted that our article on Jangkar’s groundbreaking research has been published in a peer-reviewed journal. For the full article and excerpts from the moving testimony of drug users in Indonesia, please see the Harm Reduction Journal.
[REPORT] Asian Drug Users Unite
An interesting development: drug users from around Asia met last week to formalize the Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs. ANPUD aims to create a network that can advocate for the rights of drug users. They’ll also, hopefully, provide some useful input into national and regional policies on narcotics, treatment, and HIV/AIDS. The full statement from ANPUD follows.
