THE INTERVIEW
DRUG BUSTER
Gary Bromwell, Southeast Asian Coordinator,
Foundation for a Drug-Free World
“We have a chance in Indonesia to turn the drug problem around, but
we must move quickly. In the US, the long-term consequences of wide
spread drug use is harming this nation, and is destroying the creativity
and minds of future generations. We can’t let this happen in Indonesia
and education is the key to the problem.”
THE LINK: Why is it important to invest in anti-
drug movements in Indonesia?
Indonesia is a wonderful, vibrant nation and has
held long traditional values, which have protected
its young people in many ways. It is the 4th larg-
est nation on earth and is of tremendous impor-
tance to its region. But with the fast-paced world
of social media, internet access and the ability of
strangers to mould the minds of its young people,
Indonesian culture and values are changing.
No longer can parents or schools control the
learning process for young people. While the in-
ternet opens up many opportunities for education
and entertainment, it has also opened the way for
the promoters of misery to spread their indoctri-
nation about drugs and moral values, which lead
drugs directly to their market – young people.
Marketers of drugs have been able to get drug
usage placed into TV shows, movies and heavily
into music. Celebrities idolised by their fans
drink and smoke and so do the fans in order to
copy them. Along with the message of ‘do what
feels good’ with no lessons of consequences, the
importance of media for changing the mental
12
THE LINK JANUARY 2018
“The United States is the worst
example of a drug culture, spreading
permissive ideas through the
entertainment industry. Since the
60s when the drug culture became
popularised and the great rise in TV
which promotes these messages,
former medical drugs have hit the
streets as illicit drugs – cocaine,
LSD, MDMA, methadone.”
outlook of people cannot be underestimated.
Internationally, the drug culture is one that
is not organic, but has been propelled by drug
makers and sellers through advanced marketing
techniques.
The recent movie released “Made in America”
with Tom Cruise, shows how the United States
was pushed into a cocaine drug crisis in the
1980s and the big drug cartels in Columbia
became fat and rich, with the CIA right behind it.
It wasn’t because of demand from the population
to consume this drug. No one wants to become a
drug addict as a goal in life. It was pushed on the
people with very clever targeting and marketing.
While Asia is toughening up on drugs – Malay-
sia, the Philippines and also Indonesia, Western
nations have gone more liberal and indulging the
population in taking drugs because it is getting
tax dollars from the drugs being sold. The le-
galisation of medical and recreational marijuana
is sweeping the United States and Europe, with
massive marketing campaigns pushed from big
multinational corporations seeking to make a
profit from addiction. Drug addiction is out of con-
trol with billions being spent to help drug addicts,
while billions are being spent to addict more
people. Addicts end up in psychiatric facilities,
taking yet more drugs – just as powerful, but this
time with a prescription. Little difference.
The only people who profit are the drug
corporations selling the drugs. And this is now
corporate America, not some drug cartel is South
America. The biggest drugs of addiction are
opioid painkillers which are “legal” drugs and the
profits go to big drug companies.
Some drugs are so powerful that it only takes
one hit to become addicted to the unbelievable
mental sensations of well-being they create.
These feelings are not real – brought on by
achievement, love, success. They are chemical
highs that the user keeps on chasing and never
quite achieving after that first fantastic high.
Indonesian values and culture are currently
being eroded with the influx of new ideas that
JANUARY 2018 THE LINK
13