AUSTRALIAN tourists continue to flout Indonesia's harsh and unforgiving drug laws, despite the risk of a 15-year jail term.
An investigation by The Sunday Times found Australian tourists were ignoring the fate of Schapelle Corby, the Bali Nine and now model Michelle Leslie, and remain the "best customers" for drugs, according to Bali's street dealers.
The investigation revealed the trade was flourishing, with tourists buying ecstasy pills and marijuana from roadside dealers and in nightclubs.
Many young Australians still believe that minor transgressions – buying an ecstasy pill or smoking marijuana – will be leniently dealt with or even ignored by Balinese authorities.
Some believe they can bribe their way out of trouble if they are caught.
Within hours of arriving in Bali, Australians are targeted by street dealers who openly tout for business, despite a police anti-drug campaign.
One drug supplier told The Sunday Times that business was booming with young backpackers.
"For now, we are busy because many tourists now come," he said through an interpreter.
He said he sold marijuana, ecstasy and shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) to dealers who distributed it on the streets or at bars and nightclubs to tourists, mainly Australians.
"They are almost always Australians. Ecstasy is the most popular," he said.
The Sunday Times was approached in broad daylight on five occasions in six minutes to buy drugs. The offers continued later in the evening.
A 21-year-old Perth man said he and his mate bought two ecstasy pills on Wednesday night from a taxi driver in Kuta.
"I thought if I get caught I'd just pay the cops off," he said.
"We're probably going to get some more tomorrow."
He said he was aware of the arrest of Miss Leslie, though he thought she had been caught on the plane over.
"I was a bit worried, but it was four in the morning, we were drunk and we made sure there were no cops following us. Then as soon as we got them we munched them straight away," he said.
On Kuta's streets, an ecstasy pill costs about 125,000 Indonesia rupiah (about $A16), a small bag of marijuana 300 rupiah and shabu-shabu 300,000 rupiah ($A38).
The drug supplier named a bar and a nightclub in Kuta, frequented by Australians, where ecstasy and marijuana were openly sold by street dealers and even staff.
He said the pushers knew who to target.
"They ask them, `Do you want something?' and then they take you outside and get the deal."
But he said dealers had been forced to be more careful because of increasing police stings. He said on most occasions when tourists were nabbed they could bribe their way out. But Bali police were occasionally looking for a "trophy prize", such as this week's arrest of Miss Leslie.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said that when young people travelled to countries like Bali they entered a kind of suspended reality, which made them "incredibly susceptible" to drug pushers.
"I think they genuinely believe that nothing will ever happen to them," Dr Carr-Gregg said.
"This is an age of immense naivety and their capacity to weigh up risks and to make an intelligent assessment is not yet fully formed."
Sydney couple Matt Dyke, 25, and Sam Kerr, 20, were overwhelmed by offers of drugs.
"They come up to us at least every day," Mr Dyke said.
"It's mostly the people on the street. They go, `Transport, transport' and then, `Marijuana, magic mushrooms. Good price'. "
It was the couple's first overseas trip and their families had drummed into them the need to be careful.
"Considering the laws here and the death penalty, it's pretty frequently offered. It's out of control," he said.
Taken from The Sunday Times (28 August 2005)
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