Text 14. The War on Drugs: a Losing Battle?

By Boris Vishnevsky The Moscow News

The government has approved a new program to fight illegal drugs, but there seems to be little chance for success

Meanwhile, according to the Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS), there are about 500,000 registered drug users in Russia 343,000 of whom are officially listed as drug addicts. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg since the actual number of drug users is put at 6 million, including 2 million under the age of 24. The new program sets the task of reducing by 2010 the scale of drug consumption by 16 percent to 20 percent of the 2004 level.

That is to say, in the best-case scenario, we will have 4.8 million drug users in five years. Meanwhile, according to FDCS Chairman Col.Gen. Viktor Cherkesov, for example, "drug trafficking from Afghanistan shows steady growth."

In all, about 130 tonnes of narcotic substances were seized last year. All of this shows, in Viktor Cherkesov's expression, that Russia "has made a breakthrough in the war on drugs." He also cites growing drug prices as evidence of the successful performance by his service: Narcotic substances have apparently become less easily available on the market.

Viktor Cherkesov admits, however, that not all of his service staff have lived up to expectations: Some officials have shown themselves "incapable of producing real results, not just window dressing." As a result, heads of 10 FDCS regional divisions and 29 of their deputies were dismissed in 2004, while six officials were prosecuted for involvement in drug trafficking.

On the other hand, the general complains that "judicial practice is poorly adapted to the present situation" and that "the aggressiveness and re-sourcefulness demonstrated by drug dealers is sometimes ill-matched by the lenience of courts that deliver suspended sentences in well documented drug trafficking cases."

One such "well documented" case, according to Viktor Cherkesov, is the "ketamine case" wherein veterinarians using ketamine, an anesthetic that was included on a list of illegal substances, began to be prosecuted. At the same time Gen. Cherkesov's service persistently ignored the fact that ketamine's inclusion on the list of narcotics was illegal. That, however, did not stop the FDCS from initiating some two dozen criminal cases with two guilty verdicts delivered - for veterinarians Aleksandr Duka and Olga Tanaeva.

The anti-drug service earned even greater notoriety with its ban on growing more than two Peyote (lophophora Williams) cactuses. Such a cactus can be used to produce a narcotic drug but at a cost of 1,800 euros per hit (this cactus is a very expensive plant).

Yet it is not only veterinarians and cactus growers who will now have to live in fear. Gen. Cherkesov proposes compulsory drug testing for drivers, air traffic controllers, doctors, teachers, and other professions. He does not regard this as a violation of citizens' rights, saying: "I do not see anything wrong about such tests being conducted in the interest of the community as a whole."

The FDCS spares no effort to promote its dangerous service, i particular by launching a publication called Narkomat. The magazine provides visual agitation with optimistic, life-asserting slogans, e.g., "Let us wipe out the evil of drugs and not allow shame to be brought on the Russian land." When Viktor Cherkesov took up the position of FDCS chairman in 2003, no one expected him to score any spectacular successes in fighting this evil. The expectations were justified. All that money and nothing to show for it.