Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - The Yogyakarta National Narcotics Agency (BNN) expands the formation of a community-based intervention team (IBM) at the village level to reduce the number of drug users in the province.
"We expect that every year, the number of IBM officials will increase," Yogyakarta BNN's Rehabilitation Coordinator, Windy Elfasari, noted here on Monday.
According to Elfasari, the IBM is formed along with the execution of the Drug Clean Village (Bersinar) Program.
In Yogyakarta, IBM is established in Brontokusuman, Keparakan, Tegalrejo, Bener, Wonosari, Wates, Jatisarono, Banguntapan, Mulyodadi, Condongcatur, Wedomartani, and Banyuraden.
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"We empower and guide the people, so that they have recovery agents in order to encourage rehabilitation of drug users at least before they become an addict," she noted.
IBM officials are also tasked with educating the people, so that they do not exclude drug users within their respective environments.
Through this education, she expects that the people or families can treat drug users like they would with sick patients that need urgent help.
"(We) form a mindset among the people that they need to be helped and not to exclude them or treat them like garbage," she explained.
While it does not yet cover every village, the existence of IBM is quite helpful for the rehabilitation program organized by Yogyakarta BNN.
In the first quarter of 2022, Elfasari recorded 664 narcotics and forbidden drug users in Yogyakarta that access rehabilitation service.
The rehabilitation program is hindered by the dearth of information on the part of its users and lack of care from families.
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Moreover, several drug users and addicts think that reporting themselves and accessing rehabilitation will lead to a legal process.
This is despite the fact that in addition to being free, Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics stated that drug users, who undergo rehabilitation, are guaranteed to be free from legal action, Elfasari explained.
"Sometimes addicts, even users, feel that there is no problem if they only use it once, so they do not feel like they need rehabilitation," she stated.
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