Source: Associated Press Pubdate: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 DRUG-RELATED CRIME SOARS IN RUSSIA MOSCOW (AP) -- Despite a declining overall crime rate in Russia, the number of drug-related offenses nearly doubled in 1997, the country's top anti-drug official said Tuesday. Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov said law enforcement agencies need more money to combat the growing illegal drug problem. Kulikov heads a government anti-drug commission and his ministry is in charge of police. The number of drug users in Russia has soared to 2 million since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, with the fastest growth among women and teen-agers, Kulikov said, according to Russian news agencies. Increasing drug abuse and trafficking has led to more drug-related crime, he said. He did not provide any figures. The overall crime rate dropped 9 percent last year. The drug trade brings in more than $1 billion a year in profits to criminal groups, Kulikov said. Russia has become a major drug market and key transit route, with the largest flow coming from Afghanistan. Opium is refined into heroin as it works its way through the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and on to Russia, Western Europe and the United States.