Caught With Drugs In Indonesia 🇮🇩? This Is What Happens...

Intro

A recent report has come out online about an American basketball player living in Jakarta, who is looking at a long stay in jail after being caught with over 100 marijuana gummies.

Well, considering I am someone who has been in Indonesia for quite a while over the last few years and consider it home, I am here to give you the inside scoop on what happens if you get caught with drugs in Indonesia.

What Happens?

Now, I have met with many people in Indonesia who work in the drug rehabilitation field, and they tell me one critical aspect: if you are carrying below 1 gram of substance, you are considered to be a user, and not a supplier.

This is important for two reasons:

1. If you are caught in Indonesia with a small amount of substances, about 30-40% of the time you will be able to pay off the police on the spot. However, this is a hefty amount of money ranging from 500-1000$.

2. If the police decide to press charges, which they will, you will have to hire a good lawyer and plead your case to go to a rehabilitation center instead of prison. Keep in mind, this only works once (most of the time)...

   
   

   

   The last thing you want to do is end up in Kerobokan...

   
   

Now, it is critical to note that the difference between a user and a dealer is vast. For anything under a gram, you could end up in jail for 9-15 months (it all depends), but for a small-time dealer, you can face life in prison, and for a large dealer, you can face the death penalty. Realistically, this is the process from an inside scoop on a situation that I heard of...

• When you first get arrested for posession, there is a window of 24 hours where you can pay to be released. It can range anywhere from 20-30,000$ USD.

• At 48 hours, it doubles, and by 72 hours, you can be looking at paying 75,000$ to walk the streets freely again

• After 72 hours, you become part of the system, and there is no way to pay yourself out without going down the rabbit hole.

• Somebody I personally know had his father caught with 1.5 KG of a certain white substance, and after 3 years incarcerated, ended up paying 650,000 USD to gain freedom.

Now, can I just say that all of these processes I mention can change from day to day. If you are a tourist, it becomes vastly different in a trial where you can't pay your way out of a system after 72 hours, since news would be leaked.

Respect Local Laws

This should go without saying, but is often overlooked, respect the cultures and laws in other countries when you are traveling. Honestly, whether it be just riding with a helmet or not using drugs, there are reasons (whether good or bad) that these are implemented. And if you decide not to, you'd better be ready to deal with the consequences.

Indonesia is a lovely country, but be careful...

I'm also not one to say don't do something flat out. If you want to do it, do it, but do it with respect. Don't be ripping lines of K in the bathroom and acting like an idiot at a nightclub; instead, do Ayahuasca in the mountains with a local. Ehh, enough is enough lol.

Final Thoughts

If you are thinking about using drugs in Indonesia, you'd better have a huge financial backup plan for this. If you are caught, it is a serious offense here, especially if you fall into the supplier category. In my opinion, stay away from drugs in this country, but if you are looking to engage in some party flavours, at least be respectful about it.