Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2009
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Shaun Walker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Cited: Eurasian Harm Reduction Network http://www.harm-reduction.org/

RUSSIA FINALLY ADMITS TO ITS HIDDEN HEROIN EPIDEMIC

Surge In Abuse Blamed On West's Failings In Afghanistan, But Addicts 
Go Untreated

At a playground just off the busy Prospekt Mira thoroughfare in 
central Moscow, there aren't any children playing on the swings. The 
slide is covered in dirty snow, the sandpit is strewn with empty 
vodka bottles and, on close inspection, a few used syringes. Mothers 
whisper to each other that the playground is the home of narkomany - 
drug addicts - and wheel their pushchairs swiftly past.

It's just one small sign of a vast hidden epidemic of heroin use that 
Russian officials and civil society groups say threatens the very 
existence of the nation. "It's a threat to our national security, our 
society, and our civilisation itself," said Viktor Ivanov, Russia's 
top drugs official, at a meeting with reporters recently. He 
estimated that there are more than two million drug addicts in 
Russia, which amounts to one addict for every 50 Russians of working 
age, a level that is up to eight times higher than in EU countries.

Most of these people are addicted to heroin which transits from 
Afghanistan, through central Asia, and across the long and porous 
border from Kazakhstan into Russia. There are people addicted to 
heroin across Russia's 11 time-zones, and the country's anti-drugs 
body says that Russia now uses more heroin than any other country in the world.

Mr Ivanov, a former KGB operative and a close associate of the Prime 
Minister, Vladimir Putin, said the foreign occupation of Afghanistan 
and the "war on terror" were the main factors behind Russia's drugs 
epidemic, and compared Russia's drug problem to the situation in 
China in the 19th century, when British traders brought opium to 
China and vast swathes of the population became addicted.

Mr Ivanov will travel to Vienna today, where he will address a 
special UN session on drugs and call for increased international 
co-operation on finding solutions for Afghanistan. He will also 
demand that Russia be included in the decision-making process on 
Afghanistan -which he described as the "shame of the international 
community" - and said that Russia was in favour of simply spraying 
Afghan poppy fields with pesticides to kill the crops.

"Ninety per cent of those who are addicted to drugs in Russia use 
Afghan drugs," said Mr Ivanov. "It's a simple equation - if there are 
no poppies, there is no drugs traffic. Thank goodness politicians in 
the West are beginning to admit the whole war on terror was 
ill-judged. We've heard Barack Obama and David Miliband come out and 
say that it was a mistake. The level of Afghan drugs production now 
is 44 times higher than it was in 2001."

Both government and public health officials agree that the epidemic 
of heroin addiction in Russia has reached terrifying proportions that 
could in the long run prove devastating. But while the government 
hints that the Western intervention in Afghanistan is the root cause 
of Russia's drugs woes, its critics claim that Russian government 
policy on drugs is responsible for worsening the epidemic.

"The Russian strategy is to stifle serious debate about the problem 
and demonise drug users," said Dasha Ocheret, of the Eurasian Harm 
Reduction Network in Moscow. "The goal is not to help people 
suffering with addiction but to identify them, and then punish them. 
No country in the world has ever been able to deal with its drug 
problems in this way."

Any addict who seeks medical help for his or her addiction is 
immediately put on the state "narcological register". This 
information is available to police, who can have the drug user 
arrested and put in prison, and causes huge problems for people if 
they kick their habit and want to reintegrate into society.

A report by Human Rights Watch claimed that Russian policy decisions 
on treating drug users were outdated and "deliberately ignore the 
best available medical evidence and recommendations".

Substitution therapy using methadone is banned in Russia, and needle 
and syringe exchange points are regarded as highly controversial. 
"Task number one for any drug user is to hide away from everyone," 
said Ms Ocheret. "They worry that if they go to get clean needles and 
syringes they will be arrested and sent to prison."

This in turn drives other devastating epidemics in the country, such 
as hepatitis C and HIV/Aids. Russia has one of the fastest-growing 
HIV epidemics in the world, with more than one million people thought 
to be HIV positive in the country. Ten years ago, the epidemic was 
mainly spread within the drug-using community, but now more than half 
of new cases are sexually transmitted, as the disease spreads across 
the population at large.

Whatever the reasons behind the epidemic of drug use, there is one 
thing on which everyone is agreed. More than 30,000 people die from 
drug use every year, and in a sparsely populated country with a 
shrinking population, it's a statistic that the country cannot afford.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom