Inside Indonesia’s Drug War
Indonesia’s drug laws are some of the strictest in the world, but are long jail terms and capital punishment working?
Once only a transit point for drugs, Indonesia has become one of the key narcotics markets in the region.
The country has some of the strictest narcotics laws in the world, including capital punishment for drug traffickers.
The government argues that tough laws are needed because it claims that four million Indonesians are drug users and more than 30 addicts die from an overdose every day. But critics say the country is failing to address the issue.
Users and dealers are subject to the same harsh penalties – filling an overcrowded, corrupt prison system that is also awash with drugs.
Now, the country wants to rehabilitate 100,000 addicts a year using forced therapy, but can it work?
101 East investigates Indonesia’s war on drugs.