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Synthetic marijuana, known locally as sinte’, is one of the "new narcotics" types that are becoming a worldwide phenomenon, including in Indonesia. It explores the reasons for use, how they control themselves and how their repentance processes occurs.

The study, which was conducted in Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi, was carried out in 2017 involving 13 youth who used to be drug users, drug users, and drugs users as well as drug dealer. They were recruited by snowball sampling. Data was collected using in-depth interviews.

The study shows that drug users do not know for sure what is synthetic marijuana (sinte’), and/or try to find out more about the item. They use sinte' for a variety of reasons, namely to get a relaxed sensation, to have fun, or to stimulate creativity. They have several ways for self-control in order to anticipate the potential effects, such as dripping eyes by using eye drop or not using sinte’ to look after friends which is under the influence of the sinte’. Intense and long-term use, making the majority of drug users stop using sinte’ partly because of their own experience and/or witnessing the effects experienced by their fellow users.