THE INTERVIEW
are all involved at marketing a product of one
kind or another. Religion has been a cornerstone
of cultural life for so long and as the popula-
tion changes and young people are exposed to
different ideas, there is a sort of innocence with
Indonesian parents of the evilness that is now
coming into Indonesia with the aim of addicting
its children and young people.
It is therefore of the utmost importance to
invest in anti-drug programs in Indonesia to
counter this and really educate the young people
on the process by which they are ensnared into
a life of drugs and how insidious it can be – their
attitudes change without them even realising they
are being controlled the whole way.
THE LINK: How can your organization, Founda-
tion for Drug-Free World, reduce drug use in
ways that other programs cannot?
I can tell you why our program is successful. We
do not wish to lessen any efforts to educate on
drugs and there are many that are making a posi-
tive difference. Education is something that has
to be done at all levels, but it is very needful with
young people – before they are teenagers.
The Truth About Drugs program believes
that when young people get the truth, then they
can make informed choices. All of our surveys
show that the majority of young people try drugs
because they are curious, their friends are doing
it, they are bored, want to do something excit-
ing, etc. And they get their drugs from family
members or close friends. So that automatically
passes on some trust. But underlying everything
is the simple truth – they do not know what that
substance truly is and what it will do to them
short term or in the long term.
All kids are taught survival skills. Do not put
your hand onto the stove. Do not stick a fork into
the electrical socket. Do not drink drain cleaner.
Do not cross the road when the light is red. Yet a
baby does not know these lessons yet – they will
try anything and have to be kept safe. Parents
14
THE LINK JANUARY 2018
“To be successful, any drug
education program must be done
involving the whole community.”
then teach their children about the world and
how to live safely.
The Truth About Drugs program gives all the
facts. It explains the Drug Culture and what it is
and how they are marketed to every day and how
to look out for it, so they are not just brainwashed
into following the dictates of the advertisements
or subtle messages in their favourite TV show or
movie. It explains each of the common drugs in
detail so they know where it came from, what it is
made of, what is does to their body and what are
the consequences of taking this drug – including
the worst case scenario.
Parents, schools, sporting clubs, youth
associations, law enforcement and religious
organisations. It cannot just be a series of les-
sons at school. It has to encompass a whole
community plan, with positive mentoring of youth
towards survival goals, enough activities for them
to do to be kept busy, engaging social programs
in a rt, sports, science, etc., and places they can
go to for help should they get into trouble. There
will be a small percentage of high-risk youth who
will become involved with drugs because of social
and emotional needs and they need additional
help, but the majority that enter into casual drug
use, can be prevented through a whole commu-
nity plan. Drugs numb pain and cover up some
emotional loss, problem, etc.
The first education a child gets is from their
parents. Parents teaching their children about
drugs and who to trust in life is something that
our program reinforces by giving the parents
tools they can use to help them in the process.
We have found that parents themselves don’t
know much about drugs. Maybe they didn’t take
them – the world was very different when they
were young perhaps, so they are poorly informed.
The Truth About Drugs program also has tai-
lored itself for use by teachers and law enforce-
ment, with detailed lessons plans for the school
room and these also can be used by any other
organisation to talk about drugs in a formal, yet
engaging manner.
Kids also need to hear from people who have
used drugs tell their story. We have a documen-
tary that specialises in this.
We use all of the modern tools that young
people are used to share the message with award
winning videos, which are high impact. Our book-
lets are engaging and not boring. People actually
read them. We have fashionable Public Services
Announcements on each drug, tablet and smart
phone apps and also an interactive classroom
setting where teachers can run the class on their
phone or tablets to get through the lessons.
Using the booklets and videos together really
ties all the info together for them and they get a
better picture of what drugs really do to the body.
It seems they can better understand when they
hear reports of people doing weird things in the
real world.” – RS
THE LINK: What are some of the challenges that
youth face when trying to stay away from drugs?
They suffer peer pressure in social situations. Not
wanting to appear different and wanting accept-
ance and to fit in with a certain crowd, they can
buckle under pressure. They need to learn the so-
cial skills of how to get out of these situations and
not isolate themselves as a spoil sport. They also
need to learn people skills or knowing who to trust
in their life – who is good for their physical and
JANUARY 2018 THE LINK
15