Problems in Applying Restorative Justice to Drug Users or Abusers

The application of restorative justice to drug users or abusers has raised legal issues following the enactment of Law Number 20 of 2025 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code. Article 82 letter i opens up space for the application of restorative justice to drug users or abusers. At the same time, Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics has provided medical and social rehabilitation mechanisms for people with an addiction and victims of drug abuse. This study aims to analyze the problems of the application of restorative justice to drug users or abusers, particularly regarding the position of perpetrators and victims and the relationship of restorative justice with rehabilitation mechanisms. This study is a normative legal research study using a legislative and conceptual approach. Legal materials are analyzed qualitatively using the theory of legal certainty. The results of the study indicate that the application of restorative justice still faces ambiguity regarding the position of victims in cases of drug abuse for themselves, considering that abusers can be both perpetrators and victims of abuse. Furthermore, the Narcotics Law contains no regulations that clearly integrate restorative justice with rehabilitation mechanisms. This situation has the potential to lead to overlapping mechanisms and differing interpretations in practice. Therefore, clarity on the relationship between the two mechanisms is needed so that the implementation of restorative justice provides legal certainty and continues to support the goal of rehabilitation for drug users or abusers.