Vitaly GOLOVACHEV, political news analyst
Trud, October 24, 1996
In 1990, 27,500 boys and girls of two age groups - 15-19 and 20-24 - died prematurely in Russia. In 1995, the figure nearly doubled to reach 44,300. Experts tend to explain the surge by the growing drug addiction. Of the 20.9 million young Russians (15 to 24 years old) 7 million take drugs or sniff glue.
In expert estimation, 40 percent of students in high schools, vocational schools and universities are regularly taking drugs that can be freely bought in practically any disco club or streets of many a city. In dacha localities around Moscow, dozens of syringes can be found in the morning wherever teenagers get together for all-night parties.
In all, there are 10 million addicts in Russia - every tenth person between 15 and 60 years old.
Students mostly take LSD, intellectuals prefer cocain, and opium, heroin, and morphine are the underworld's all-time favourites.
"The situation is critical," says General Alexei Pushkarenko, chief of the economic counterintelligence staff at the Federal Security Service. "The scale of drug addiction is so wide and the rate of its proliferation in Russia is so high that they have come to threaten the country's national security interests.
"Drug barons have a ramified network both in and outside Russia and close connections with corrupt officials in the bodies of executive authority. The drug business is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Experts say that the annual drug consumption in Russia is about 200 tons. Drugs are expensive: a gramme of cocaine costs between USD 80 (wholesale) and 250 (retail) and of heroin - USD 30-200; a tablet of ecstasy (MDM) - USD 50-70. The prices are higher than in the US or Europe.
"What with its transparent borders, Russia is a haven for the criminal clans. The number of international drug pushers operating in this country is on the rise. The Russian underworld is getting actively involved in the drug business.
"Last year, the number of drug addicts in Russia grew 64 percent... There were 80,000 drug-related crimes... As many as 45,000 went to the pen, and many more cases are in the pipeline..."
