BNN RI Asks Kratom Plants To Still Not Be Used By The Community During The Research Period

Head of the Indonesian National Narcotics Agency, Komjen Pol. Martinus Hukom while attending an internal meeting on policies in handling, utilizing, and trading of the Antara's crotom/DOK plant

JAKARTA - The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) of the Republic of Indonesia requested that the atomic plants remain unused by the public during the research period on the instructions of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), except for research purposes. "The symptoms have dangerous side effects for the body, especially if they are used at high doses," said Head of BNN RI Komjen Martinus Hukom in an official written statement in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, June 21. Namun hingga kini, kata dia, budaya dan konsumsi krotom masih belum diatur dalam Undang-Undang (UU) Narkotika, sehingga BNN mengusulkan untuk dilakukan penelitian teknis tentang krotom. Meanwhile, President Jokowi instructed the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), and the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to further examine the benefits of the circumstellar plant which is said to contain narcotics. The results of further research are targeted for completion in August 2024. The instruction was given by the President when holding an internal meeting on policies in handling, utilizing, and trading of atomic plants at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, last Thursday. Since 2022, Martinus said, BNN has rehabilitated 133 people who use circumatoms with clinical characteristics such as those that occur in opioid abusers, namely anxiety, tension, vomiting, dizziness, and nausea. Several policies from related institutions, such as the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) have banned the use of cronatoms in natural ingredients. In addition, he continued, the United Nations Agency for Drug and Crime Affairs (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime/UNODC) also remains in its policy that the crotoms and all of its derivatives are under the supervision of the World Health Organization (WHO) which will continue to monitor scientific literature and the development of crotoms around the world. BNN's Attitude Based on the 2019 BNN Circular (SE Head of BNN Number B/3985/X/KA/PL.02/2019/BNN in 2019) is related to the circulation and abuse of krotoms in Indonesia, he said, supporting the decision of Komnas for the Change of Narcotics and Psychotropic Classing that the crotom plant is a class I narcotic. "It is necessary to intervene in the sustainable alternative development of krotom plants, especially in the Kalimantan region and to socialize the dangers of consuming krotoms," he said. Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko after attending a limited meeting revealed that the Ministry of Health found that the cronatoms were not categorized as dangerous narcotics and could be used, among others, for pain relievers. Moeldoko said that so far the krotom has been widely consumed traditionally by the people of Kalimantan as an energy source, like coffee. He also claims that the effect of addiction from the consumption of krotoms tends to be low. Therefore, he assessed that the governance and trading system of the krotom plant was discussed by the government in order to respond to complaints from the public, especially the 18 thousand families in West Kalimantan who had difficulty exporting krotoms, because there was no regulation regarding the standardization of their products. In addition, he said, management, trading system, and the legality of the crotom are also needed so that there are no more circumatoms that contain unhealthy elements, such as salmonella bacteria, ecoli, and heavy metals.

"Right now (the krotom export) is decreasing, because we don't have standards yet, so there are products that are rejected and the prices are down," said Moeldoko.