Indonesian ministers and senior officials in charge of supervising drug abuse issues signed on Tuesday a regulation under which drug abusers will be sent to rehabilitation centers instead of being jailed.

"This would be the initial measure that we apply against the drug abusers. They are not supposedly in jail. They should be in rehabilitation centers because they are actually people suffering from illness that need to be healed," Legal and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said.

But he added recommendation letters from related institutions are required according to the regulation to prove the drug abusers need to get treatment at rehabilitation centers.

The regulation was jointly signed by Amir Syamsuddin, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi, Social Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri, Head of Police's Crime Detective Section Suhardi Alius and Head of Anti- narcotics National Agency (BNN) Anang Iskandar. The signing was witnessed by Vice President Boediono in his office here.

Previously at a seminar on handling of drug abusers held last week, Deputy Health Minister Ali Gufron Mukti said that the handling of drug abusers in the country faces problems such as the persistence of ambiguity in the existing law, which indiscriminately criminalizes all of those involved in drug related cases, be it dealers or abusers.

Up to 4.7 million people aged between 10 and 59 were recorded in Indonesia last year, accounting for 2.2 percent of the population, a BNN chief deputy, Diah Setia Utami, said.

This figure is significantly higher than the 3.7 million recorded in 2008.