NARCOTICS-RUSSIA: Drug Dealers Roam Russian Streets

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW, May 24 1998 (IPS) - “Gerych available here,” says the vendor, offering his wares in downtown Moscow. ‘Gerych’ is the street name for heroin, and the one of the hottest spots for the trade is in Lubianka square — right in front of the former KGB headquarters, now home to Russia’s Federal Security Service.

Despite regular police crackdowns, the dealers always come back. One of them, recently picked up for dealing in Lubianka Square, was in his late seventies, a veteran of World War II and the recipient of Hero’s Golden Star, the country’s highest decoration. His war record renders him, by Russian law, virtually immune to prosecution.

Drug-related crime is skyrocketing in Russia, with the number of reported incidents rising by 90 per cent in 1997, according to the Interior Ministry.

The ministry estimates that two million people, out of a total population of 147 million, regularly use drugs and a quarter of a million are registered addicts. The figures show a three-fold increase over the past five years.

Of the total drug-related crimes recorded in 1997, however, dealing accounted for just 8 per cent. In half of Russia’s regions the police have failed to penetrate any trafficking rings at all.

Large-scale production and trafficking of drugs has remained untouched by the government’s anti-narcotics programme. Law enforcement agencies complain of under-funding and the lack of a clear legal framework for confiscating illegal earnings from drugs.

Russian lawmakers recently approved a controversial anti-drug bill in an attempt to tackle the problems. The new law, which came into effect on 15 April, was heavily criticised in the media because of provisions that give the police greater powers to search and detain suspected drug dealers and addicts.

“We have to protect the younger generation from the drugs menace,” says Nikolai Gerasimenko, who drafted the law and chairs the health committee of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

The new law makes treatment obligatory for drug addicts. It also bans the publication of any information on the use or preparation of drugs, and restricts press reports about drug trade hot spots because, Gerasimenko claims, many addicts learn about drugs from movies and the media.

“I think enforcement of the law, notably the obligatory treatment of drug addicts, could cause problems for the health system, but we are going to tackle the issue,” said Gennady Onischenko, Russia’s first deputy health minister.

Some critics of the law, however, argue that the police crackdown could simply force addicts to go further underground and use home- made drugs, increasing the risks of HIV infection.

Vadim Pokrovsky, director of the Russian Institute for Preventing and Combating AIDS, disagrees. “The new law is likely to contribute to the anti-drug campaign and thus to the anti-AIDS drive,” he told IPS. “The drug dealers are deliberately targeting young people, and they can only be stopped by forceful methods,” he said.

Since the start of this year 1,000 new cases of HIV infection have been reported in Russia. “Most of them are drug addicts between 18 and 30, and some younger than 15,” said Pokrovsky.

The astronomical prices that dealers charge for heroin, cocaine and LSD have certainly not prevented their spread. In Moscow one gramme of heroin costs between 80 and 100 dollars, and the price for cocaine is 150 to 200 dollars — an exorbitant sum in a country where the average wage is 200 dollars a month.

For less affluent clients, ‘blacky’ (dried poppy flowers) and cannabis are available at a lower price of about 10 dollars a gramme.

Not surprisingly, domestic and international drug dealers increasingly view Russia as a lucrative market. The Interior Ministry estimated the annual value of the illegal drugs trade at around seven billion dollars in 1997, six hundred times greater than in 1991.

Although the figure represents only a fraction of the global drugs trade, which is estimated at 500 billion dollars, the market is growing. And, as the market grows, say experts, new drug- producing areas are emerging to cater to it.

Climatic conditions in the Central Asian states are ideal for the cultivation of poppies and cannabis. In Kazakhstan the area of production covers more than a million hectares. The most important areas for hemp cultivation are the Shuiskaya valley, known to drug addicts since the Soviet era, and the Dzhmaulskay, a region which experts say can yield five to six million tonnes of marijuana a year.

Last year the UNDCP and the ruling Islamist Taleban militia in Afghanistan reached a deal to halt the production of opium in the country, which accounts for 50 per cent of the world’s heroin supply. The 10-year UN programme, costing 25 million dollars a year, aims to encourage Afghan farmers to switch to other crops.

But if successful, the campaign could have the side-effect of stimulating production in Central Asia.

Efforts to prevent the trade expanding are also hampered by official corruption. According to Avdy Kuliev, Turkmenistan’s former foreign minister and leader of the country’s opposition, high-ranking officials in Turkmenistan, and probably in some other Central Asian states, are clearly involved in the lucrative trade.

The long, under-policed border with Russia is another reason why it is hard to stem the flow of drugs to the streets of Moscow. But the human cost of failure is high. As Ylva, an 18-year-old heroin addict, says: “I’m finished. I no longer feel like a human being.”