Opium, the new religion

The economic and social crisis ensuing from the collapse of the Soviet Union has pushed many to seek solace in drugs. VLADIMIR RADYUHIN on Russia's scourge.

UNDER A torrent of narcotics gushing in from Afghanistan and Central Asia, Russia is fast succumbing to the scourge of drug abuse and the related spread of AIDS. Drug addiction has jumped 20-fold in the country over the last 10 years, with 4 million to 5 million of Russia's 146-million population using drugs, half of them considered addicts, according to official estimates. Independent researchers say there are no reliable statistics and cite 10 million drug users and five million or six million addicts.

The explosive rise in drug abuse came after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ensuing economic and social crisis has wrought havoc with the lives of millions, pushing many to seek solace in drink and drugs. Over the same years, Afghanistan has emerged as the world's biggest producer of drugs, leaving far behind the Golden Triangle in South East Asia and Latin America. Afghanistan today accounts for three-fourths of the world's heroin supply, according to U.N. estimates. The bulk of Afghanistan-produced drugs has been channelled in recent years through the porous borders of the former Soviet Central Asia to Russia and further on to Europe, as Iran effectively curbed drug-trafficking across its territory to South Europe.

Russia, initially a transit route between Central Asia and Western Europe, has now become the world's fastest growing drug market. Availability of drugs and their relative cheapness are the main factors contributing to the rapidly growing incidence of narcotics use in Russia. One gram of heroin in Moscow costs just $30 to $40 while in the West it goes for $180. The Russian Interior Ministry estimates that the share of drugs transiting Russia to Europe has dropped from 60 per cent five years ago to less than 6 per cent today, with 94 per cent consumed in Russia. In Moscow alone, drug peddling brings up to $1 billion in profits a year. The Izvestia daily assessed the annual turnover of drugs in Russia at $30 billion. In addition to heroin from Afghanistan, there is cocaine from Latin America and synthetic drugs from Europe.

Drug addiction is spreading fastest among young people. Dr. Grigory Potemkin of the AMITI Institute, which specialises in preventive treatment of drug and alcohol addiction, says that four out of five young Russians are familiar with drugs in many regions, including Moscow. Drugs are freely sold at discos and night clubs and peddled in practically all Moscow schools. The rector of Russia's most prestigious Moscow State University, Mr. Viktor Sadovnichy, admits that a ``structured network of drug dealers'' is active among his 40,000 students. Each addict attracts 10 to 17 people to the habit during one year. Towns and villages which have the misfortune of sitting on the main roads leading from Central Asia to Russia's western borders, are the worst hit. Some of them have close to 100 per cent incidence of drug addiction among young people.

Skyrocketing use of drugs has led to an explosion in HIV/AIDS incidence, which jumped from 420,000 to 700,000 in a single year in 2000. And that is just the beginning. ``If the current rate of infection continues, half the country's population will be infected with HIV within a decade,'' said Dr. Vladimir Pokrovsky, head of the National Centre for the Fight Against AIDS.

The Deputy Health Minister, Mr. Gennady Onishchenko, warned that Russia's very future was at stake. ``AIDS may cause the death or dissipation of the nation,'' he said.

The President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, has described the narcotics problem as a ``national security threat'', while the Prime Minister, Mr. Mikhail Kasyanov, said drugs were ruining a whole ``generation which is due to take over from us''.

Much of the problem lies outside Russia's reach. Economic dislocation in the newly independent states of Central Asia has made drug trafficking the only way of earning a living for thousands, if not millions. Drug couriers from Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan do not need a visa to travel to Russia.

Despite the enormity of the problem, Russia is yet to set up a mechanism for combating drug abuse. ``Out of three essential conditions required to effectively combat drug addiction, Russia has none,'' says Dr. Vladimir Prokopenko, Deputy Chairman of the International Anti-Narcotics Committee. ``It lacks political will, financial resources and scientific potential.''

Two national programmes to fight drug abuse adopted in 1995 and 1997 never took off for lack of funding. A law passed three years ago targets not so much drug dealers as addicts by making the use, distribution and transport of even the most microscopic amounts of drugs punishable by a prison sentence. Enormous profits enable drug traffickers to bribe police. In some cities, such as Yekaterenburg in the Urals, the Russian mafia has launched its own war on drug dealers, fearing that narcotics would kill off all its potential recruits.

``Government efforts to combat drugs are about as effective as trying to put out the Chernobyl reactor fire with a glass of water,''said Dr. Prokopenko.

Experts predict a further spread of drugs in Russia. ``We are heading for an 80 per cent nationwide incidence of drug use among young people,'' says Dr. Potemkin of the AMITI Institute, adding an optimistic note of sorts: ``Thereafter drug addiction will begin to subside, because it has never registered higher levels anywhere in the world''.

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