MOSCOW, March 2 (Interfax) - Over 2 million Russian citizens use narcotic drugs regularly, nearly 4 million have tried them and over 400,000 are addicts.

Col. Gen. Vladimir Kolesnikov, first deputy interior minister and deputy chairman of the government commission on prevention of drug abuse and sales, said so in State Duma hearings Monday.

The hearings have been organized by the Duma Health Protection Committee.

The number of addicts is increasing in nearly every region and this raises the incidence of drug-related crimes, Kolesnikov said. It was nearly 185,000 in 1997, a 91% increase on 1996.

A total of about 50 tonnes of illegal drugs was confiscated in 1997, the Interior Ministry reports.

The forecast is not good, Kolesnikov said. Experts believe that the number of addicts, especially among young adults and minors, will increase and so will the proportion of hard drugs. The drug lords will become entrenched in the economy and this will increase corruption, he said.

The organizers of the hearings say that the spread of drug abuse must be stopped, in particular through tough steps. The law on narcotic and psychedelic drugs which will take effect April 15 must play a positive role in this, they say.

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Johnson's Russia List

#2089

3 March 1998

davidjohnson@erols.com