CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR ON MARIJUANA IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This article argues that the current narcotics law regime bears part of the blame, along with other criminal justice tools, for prison overcrowding and the unnecessary deprivation of liberty and dignity for violators. The multilayer categories of drug users introduced by the current narcotics law leaves too much discretion for the law enforcement agency to criminalize marijuana users. Data shows that in Jakarta and Surabaya court alone, all marijuana users are charged with multiple articles, leaving no room for them to escape from draconian sentences. This paper questions the repressive enforcement used by the Indonesian apparatus, specifically regarding marijuana, because it leads to other issues bigger than the personal use of marijuana itself. In the end, this article proposes a change in marijuana law while at the same time acknowledging the nature of political conservatism in Indonesia.