Speech of Drugs and Young Generation

Ladies and Gentlemen…

First of all, let’s pray and thank unto Allah SWT, for His gift and His guidance are given for us until we can do our obligation as moslem.

Secondly, let’s pray for our prophet Muhammad SAW, because of him, we can get the moslem to respect another person, asspecially to the parents.

Thirdly, I will not forget to say thank you very much for my friend as support me speaking here. Standing in front of you all, I would like to present my speech under the title "Drugs and Young Generation".

Ladies and Gentlemen…

Thousands of young men have wasted their lives because of illicit drugs in our country, Indonesia. They were mostly victims of a ‘cruel’ environment, a broken-home family, of ignorance, of curiosity or particularly of the illegal drugs mafia. It is estimated that around 4 million people in Indonesia illicit drug users – about one in every 50 Indonesians. In the capital city of Jakarta, it is estimated that three out of ten young people are users. A study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Indonesia showed that around four per cent of illicit drug users in the country are children under 17 years old. Two out of ten users are involved in illicit trafficking. Some teenagers start being involved in producing and trafficking drugs between the ages of 13 and 15. Chairman of the National Narcotics Coordinating Board said that the country’s illicit drug users include around 7,000 junior high school students, over 10,000 senior high school students and about 800 elementary school students.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

People usually take drugs to have fun or escape the pressures of life. Drug users among students are particularly worrying. It was reported that a number of traffickers operate around schools by cheating, forcing or giving free illicit drugs to students. Once the students are addicted, they then go to the traffickers to buy the illicit drugs. If they do not have money, they steal it from their family members or others. Narkoba is the Indonesian term for narcotics, psychotropic and addictive substances. Psychotropic substances popularly called Ecstasy and Shabu-shabu are considered favorites among the middle and upper class users. However, for an increasing number of young people, the drug of choice is low-grade heroin, known as putaw, which is cheap, plentiful, but potentially deadly. These drugs are readily available in all major urban areas, including schools, bars, cafes, discotheques, nightclubs, and they even spread into remote villages. Therefore it is not surprising that drug users continue to increase from year to year.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

The facts above show us how familiar “Narkoba” issues in our young generation. First we should know what’s the meaning of drugs addiction? Drug addiction is a complex brain disease. It is characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Drug seeking becomes compulsive, in large part as a result of the effects of prolonged drug use on brain functioning and, thus, on behavior. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence. It warns us how serious the consequences of using drugs.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

Drug abuse has also contributed to the increase of HIV/AIDS patients, through the usage of unsterile injections. According to a report based on an illicit drug and injection safety study of 20 Asian countries conducted by the Center for Harm Reduction in Australia’s Burnet Institute, drug injecting is spreading to all the countries [of Asia] and its popularity is increasing. Our Country, Indonesia have up to 1 million drug injectors, and 19% of them were infected HIV/AIDS. How dangerous the drugs abuse for us.

This is an extremely serious issue for us. It's a threat that could kill an entire generation. One generation of this nation will be lost if we do not take action together and immediately. In short, we must be ready to go to war against illicit drugs and the war must start from home.

Then, what can we do as the young generation? Preventing is better than curing. Avoid drugs; don’t ever think to try just because you are curious. Why? Because once you try, you will be trapped and later become addicted; and the addiction will finally turn you into criminals or take your lives. We have so many examples around us, what happened to the users. Some become crazy, some was going to the jail, and the others were died. All of them loose their future. I believe we don’t want such things happened to ourselves.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

Now… it is time for us to say ‘NO’ to drugs. It’s time for us to arrange our future. It’s time for us to face the world with our ability. It’s time for us to prove that we can do something better for our beloved country, Indonesia.

Now, I have been giving speech here and may Allah bless us now and forever. And finally I say please forgive me for all of my mistakes.