The hospital will be utilized to rehabilitate local drug addicts until they are fully recovered, said West Aceh district head Ramli M.S.
The district government has made all essential preparations to ensure patients are treated well, he told ANTARA here on Wednesday.
Drug abuse and addiction remain a serious public problem in West Aceh. To deal with it, the district administration has launched a Muslim Village Program in tens of subdistricts, he said.
Along with the concerned stakeholders, the district government officials have launched public awareness campaigns on the threats of drug abuse and addiction by applying an Islamic values approach, he informed.
To this end, the district government has been sending Muslim preachers to each village in West Aceh to propagate anti-drug messages, he added.
Aceh has remained vulnerable to drug trafficking, with police seizing 141 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in the province in just one month. The drugs were confiscated during two raids in East Aceh district by police, which led to the arrest of 15 suspects.
The province's eastern coastline has frequently been used by transnational drug syndicates as an entry point for smuggling illicit drug packages into Indonesia.
The government has continued to take harsh punitive action against drug kingpins as Aceh and many other parts of Indonesia have remained under grave threat from drug dealers.
National Police Chief, General Idham Azis, revealed recently that district courts in different parts of Indonesia have awarded capital punishment to at least 100 drug offenders in the first half of 2020.
As part of a strict crackdown on drugs trade in the country, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.
However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers, who have continued to treat Indonesia as a key market, prompting law enforcement agencies to increase vigilance in the war on drugs. (INE)
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Translator: Teuku DI, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
