Irina Epik, journalist

"Vseukrainskiye Vedomosti" newspaper, October 3, 1995

[Translated into English by A.Prishchenko, October 5, 1995]

A steadfast attention of all international organizations for struggle against illegal drugs' circulation to Ukraine was evoked by uncontrolled transit of colossal loads of "stupefying" substances through the territory of Ukraine. International drug Mafia, having a huge power and influence in the world, has stretched its tentacles to our country, where it tries to strengthen itself with some success. Ukraine is a new and "grateful" market of sales, in which nothing can stop potential consumers. During 8 months of this year, 29,000 court processings were initiated for illegal drugs' manipulations, and more than 28 tons of drug substances were confiscated.

Now, there is a new fact. A group of young men -- children of high-rank chemists -- was revealed in Kyjiv [capital of Ukraine] by militia. These young men have established production of "a drug" in laboratory. Really this substance is a psychotropic one, demolishing brain. One of "collaborators" of the laboratory has already paid with his health and got into sanitarium.

Last week a squad for struggle against illegal drugs' circulation of Central Office of Ministry of interior affairs (MIA) has arrested a group of youngsters, that established production of psychotropic drug pervintine ("vint") in a private flat.

Being a psychotropic substance, pervintine is especially dangerous, because it influences the brain in the first hand, evoking irreversible changes.

I asked Vladimir Prudkoy, deputy director of the Kiev department for struggle against illegal drugs' circulation of Central Office of MIA to comment this fact.

-- This April our department has confiscated a synthetic drug pervintine for the first time in Ukraine. We didn't have even analogous substances before, so experts even had difficulties when finding out the type of drug.

The same time it was determined, that a group of youngsters having vast chemical knowledge was producing pervintine. It is the most "picking up ears" fact, evoking sad thoughts: all these people are children of intelligent parents (teachers, Doctors of sciences, highly qualified chemists). The intellectual potential of these youngsters can be illustrated by the fact, that they have managed to learn how to produce the drug themselves. There is obviously not a single group of this kind: this is proved by revealing another den. To the point, it is already revealed, that both groups had a direct connection.

-- Vladimir Grigiryevich, how many drug addicts are in Ukraine?

-- Russia has officially recognized, that with 150 million of population it has 15 million drug addicts. In USA, there are 220 million of population and 15 million drug addicts registered. How many of them in Ukraine? -- this is unknown. By my frugal estimation, there are 50-60 thousands of them only in Kyjiv.

And while 10 years ago, when a drug addict was arrested, the whole militia crowded to gaze at him, now they already got used to such spectacles. Those times the government closed its eyes, saying that we can't "have this"; now they've lost the moment, and in schools they persecute for smoking not tobacco but pot.

I must add that there are still little imported drugs in Ukraine: we have everything our own, and cheap enough in comparison with world prises. Cleaned heroine and cocaine cost 200 USD, less cleaned ones can be got for 80; a pack of marijuana -- nearly for nothing -- for 10-30 dollars.

In every drugstore one can buy solutan -- a cough stopping preparation. This preparation contains ethedrine -- the main raw material for drugs' production. From one bottle of solutan for a funny price of 250,000 UAK [about 1.3 USD] one can produce 1 gramme of drug substance in 5-10 minutes. That's why we have spoken about medical substances' control for a long time, but the appropriate work is not being done.

More and more willingly homebred drug addicts, whose number is known only due to the number of crimes committed by them (during these investigations 2,500 crimes were revealed), cooperate with international drug Mafia, threatening to become a national tragedy because of absence of reliable laws. That's why each revealed fact of drug substances' underground production is carefully checked for "business" connections in Ukraine and beyond its territory.