inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) of the Republic of Indonesia, Marthinus Hukom said that preventive measures to eradicate drugs are more effective than giving the death penalty to drug dealers and drug smugglers.

According to him, his party is not affected by the changes in the death penalty, which is no longer included as a principal crime, but rather a special crime in Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code or what is often known as the new Criminal Code, which will come into effect in January 2026.

"So, for me, progressive regulations are not just punishing the person or by giving them the death penalty, but rather managing human cognition to make them see the way," said Marthinus on Thursday (10/24/2024).

He explained that the essence of punishment is to provide a deterrent effect, but it turns out that so far those who have been sentenced to death due to drug trafficking cases have not stopped others from committing the crime.

Therefore, other steps are needed to eradicate drug trafficking and one of them is managing people's cognition. Marthinus explained that managing cognitive or empirical factual knowledge of the perpetrators is very important so that we can further understand what factors influence them to commit narcotics crimes.

Many aspects can be seen, such as economic conditions, family, and others, so that these are the points that actually need to be fostered to be better.

"For prevention, we are currently looking at fostering families, the environment, and educational institutions. Then BNN approaches them with a social approach, life skills, and others," explained the Head of BNN RI.

He explained that these steps are being taken by BNN in a number of villages that are concentrated or indicated to be the centers of drug trafficking.

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