Russia lags behind in the area of primary prevention of drug addiction. So, today there are not enough measures aimed at supporting social advertising, coverage of the problem in the media and conducting special lessons in schools. Experts stated this following a meeting of the Security Council, at which the draft Strategy of the State Anti-Drug Policy until 2030 was approved. During the meeting, Vladimir Putin drew attention to the need to strengthen interagency cooperation in order to more effectively resist the proliferation of prohibited funds using new technologies. In addition, he noted the threat of contraband from foreign countries. Experts emphasize that the main problem is still the supply of opiates from Afghanistan.
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Suppress by force
The spread of drugs continues to be one of the serious problems for the Russian Federation, despite the fact that the authorities have managed to achieve tangible results in recent years. So, over 10 years, the number of officially registered drug users dropped from 673 thousand to 478 thousand, Vladimir Putin recalled at the beginning of the meeting. This also applies to minors, where there is a decrease from 7.9 thousand to 5.1 thousand. During the same period, the level of drug crime decreased by 17%. The number of those who committed illegal actions while under the influence of drugs dropped by 30%, he added.
“At the same time, the statistics should not be reassuring,” said Vladimir Putin. – So, for 9 months of this year, law enforcement agencies revealed more than 144.5 thousand drug crimes. This is actually comparable to the same indicator last year (it was 145 thousand). Almost 18 tons of narcotic and psychotropic substances were withdrawn from the illegal turnover.
For the distribution of drugs, criminals are increasingly using modern means of communication. The so-called contactless payment methods and new non-bank forms of payments are actively used in the supply and sales schemes, the president explained. Against this background, close coordination of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB with Rosfinmonitoring is in demand, he said.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry intends to introduce a new corpus delicti: inducement to use or propaganda of drugs via the Internet, said the head of the department, Vladimir Kolokoltsev. In addition, the new strategy implies an increase in the efficiency of joint work of special services and law enforcement agencies, territorial anti-drug commissions, special medical institutions and organizations, said Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev.
It is equally important to work to strengthen border and customs controls in order to effectively combat drug smuggling from foreign countries. Although it is worth noting that the pandemic and border closures have significantly complicated the activities of the participants in organized transnational crime. So, in the first half of the year, drug smuggling in the Russian Federation has decreased by more than a third, said Vladimir Putin. However, as interstate communication is restored, attempts to increase the supply of illicit drugs from other countries will resume, he is sure. The main problem for Russia is the smuggling of opiates from Afghanistan, said political analyst Nikita Mendkovich.
– Within the framework of the CSTO and the CIS, Moscow is trying to reduce the smuggling of Afghan opiates into Central Asia. In particular, large-scale operations to combat drug trafficking are carried out annually. Over the past five to six years, concrete successes have been achieved in this direction, including thanks to the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan. There is evidence of the transfer of some groups that worked on the Tajik border to other regions, for example, to the border of Iran with the countries of the South Caucasus, the expert explained.
According to him, in addition to cooperation at the level of international organizations of the Russian Federation, it is important to strengthen bilateral cooperation with the countries of the region, including Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. At the same time, Nikita Mendkovich recalled that the merger of terrorist organizations with criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking poses a serious threat.
“There are risks of the situation developing according to the model of Latin American drug cartels, which, thanks to super-profits, are actually creating their own armies with heavy equipment and the latest weapons,” he summed up.
Strengthen prevention
The fight against drugs requires more than forceful methods. In particular, it is important to improve the system of medical care for drug addicts and introduce advanced techniques that allow detecting the disease at an early stage, said Vladimir Putin. The President also called for strengthening control over the activities of private rehabilitation organizations in the regions where flagrant violations of the constitutional rights of citizens have repeatedly occurred.
Expanding anti-drug information policy in the media, on social networks popular with young people and in educational institutions is another goal. In particular, it is necessary to expose the lie about the safe and civilized use of so-called “light” drugs, the president is sure. However, it is in the field of primary prevention that Russia lags far behind, said Sergei Polozov, chairman of the STOPNARKOTIK All-Russian public movement, in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, in the presence of a complex state system, which does not exist now, it would be possible to prevent drug use among young people.
– The Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot do this, because there are clearly not teachers and not teachers there. The Ministry of Education, which was reformed, also did not take on these functions. The Ministry of Health is already dealing with critical situations, but not prevention, ”he said. – We need government tools to create videos and public service announcements. In schools, work is also not very effective, because teachers do not know this narrow topic well. Often, even with the best intentions, this work turns not into prevention, but into propaganda. The number of volunteers should also be increased. It is very important for us that the state gives us the opportunity to undergo training so that we can more effectively carry out prevention from the point of view of psychology and pedagogy.
According to Sergei Polozov, economic advantages would be obvious, since the state would not have to spend large sums on the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Nikolai Govorin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Health Protection Committee, agrees with the need to strengthen work to reduce the demand for narcotic drugs. In his opinion, today there are not enough measures aimed at supporting social advertising, as well as coverage of the problem in the media. And this is important so that in Russia it is possible to form an immunity to drugs and isolate the younger generation from them, the parliamentarian believes.