Former drug user Jennifer Agatha was sentenced to two years in an Indonesian prison in 2021 after police found half a gram of methamphetamine on a friend.
"At the time, I didn't feel any remorse or guilt, I blamed others," said Agatha, who served her time and now lives in Surabaya, a city on Java island.
The 28-year-old said punishment for her drug offences was not effective because she lived in jail "alongside other drug addicts and dealers".
Inmates often exchanged tips on how to run drug businesses without getting caught, she said.
"I was even thinking [about] how to find drugs inside prison," she said.
But drug users like Agatha could soon be able to avoid jail, under proposed changes.
Just days before the remaining five Bali Nine members were transferred to Australia, Indonesia's government signalled a shift in its approach to some drug laws.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Law, Human Rights and Immigration Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters last Thursday during a doorstop that the government planned to amend the country's drug laws so that users would be sent to rehabilitation instead of being sentenced to prison.
He said the changes would follow the "spirit of restorative justice" under the new Criminal Code set to replace the existing code in January 2026.
The existing code was inherited from the Dutch East Indies colonial government.
Mr Mahendra said the government now considered drug users to be "victims" who needed to be "rehabilitated while being guided by the state".
The penalties for drug smuggling are set to remain unchanged.
While he did not specify when the law would be amended, he said the change would help tackle jail overcrowding.
According to the government, Indonesia's detention centres and prisons are operating at 200 per cent of their capacity with around 70 per cent of the cases in those facilities related to drug offences.
"Perhaps the number of inmates will decrease drastically but that doesn't mean [drug users] are free because they're not sentenced to prison," he said.
"They will still undergo rehabilitation."
Calls for decriminalisation
Under Indonesia's existing Narcotics Law, penalties for convicted drug users range from a minimum prison sentence of one year for a minor possession offence to a maximum of life imprisonment.
The penalty for drug smuggling offences in Indonesia is life in jail or the death penalty.
For years, legal experts and organisations in Indonesia have advocated for the Narcotics Law to be revised.
However, criminal law experts, including Institute for Criminal Justice Reform executive director Erasmus Napitupulu, have criticised the government's proposal, arguing the policy change would simply move overcrowding from jails to rehabilitation services.
"Not all drug users require rehabilitation," said Mr Napitupulu, referring to recreational drug users or people who used drugs once.
"What we need is the decriminalisation of drug users, by providing a non-punitive and non-criminal response to drug use for personal purposes."
Mr Napitulu said some drug users should fall under the jurisdiction of health services.
"Drug users, within a certain limit, should be under the domain of health institutions, not law enforcement," he said.
"With decriminalisation, drug users would no longer fear accessing health services when needed and we could better educate the public on harm reduction [from drug use]."
Legal experts also said that education and awareness campaigns about drug addiction needed to be promoted and implemented more extensively.
"What we should focus on are major drug dealers, not small-scale drug users with less than 1 gram for personal use, which should be addressed with a health-focused approach," Mr Napitupulu said.
Community legal aid institute and human rights organisation Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat in Jakarta provides a free legal service for people who use drugs and are facing the death penalty.
The institute's Awaludin Muzaki told the ABC the new criminal code needed to have more specific regulations for drug crimes.
He said the revised criminal code still did not clearly differentiate between drug traffickers and drug users, which would mean users could still be sent to jail.
He added that the proposal to send users to rehabilitation centres instead of prison would still see them arrested.
"This regulation means the narcotic-related articles in the new criminal code still pose a threat of criminalisation for drug users," Mr Muzaki said.
Back in Surabaya, Agatha said she had left her past behind and moved on.
"Jesus found me along the way. Now, I spend most of my weekends at church," she said.
"My focus now is working out my salvation and keep staying away from drugs because they only created problems."
Ms Agatha said discipline and commitment were the keys to breaking her "free from drugs".
"People need to overcome the urge to use drugs. Once we keep doing that, we become stronger."
