Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

choice of means to attain them as well as to ensure an overall realization.

Observing the fundamental properties of drug abuse, researchers call

upon us to be ready for new and unusual capability of this phenomenon to

adapt to any conditions and manifest itself in new forms in most

undesirable circumstances. On this occasion A. Gabiani writes: "Hardly had

they banished the opium poppy, when the niche was quickly filled by common

poppy. When the entire hemp-growing regions were cut off from black

markets, the pharmaceutics flooded the market. The channels for natural

drugs were blocked, then the far more dangerous chemicals began spreading.»

The specificity of drug abuse, and its forms and degree of

proliferation, stress the need for a regular re-evaluation of its rapidly

changing state in order to promote the methods of counteraction, discard

the outlived methods, bring all techniques of exerting influence in line

with the legislation and day-to-day reality. Experience proves that an

objective assessment of any process demands for corrections to be made

which take due notice of reality.

A system of measures to combat narcotics presupposes that its elements

are mutually compatible and that the system itself can be a part of a

higher order -(law enforcement and crime-prevention systems, and social

administrative systems, as a whole). This means that not one subject or

measure in the counter-narcotics system may contradict the values accepted

by the society. The authority of the subjects must be sufficiently

reflected in their rights and duties.

It is essential that all elements of the anti-narcotics system have

enough potential possibilities to ensure its effective operation. The

utmost goal of the organization is, in this case, to transform the

potential possibilities into the real functions and make them serve as a

system of counteraction measures. For example, the professional duty of

medical institutions and doctors who provide treatment for drug addicts is

manifested as a certain function performed by the elements of the system of

counteraction to drug abuse.

A solution of the problems of drug abuse requires, on the one hand,

considerable efforts by national, international and other organizations and

their numerous divisions that act in different directions and focus on

different target groups of people, and on the other hand, it requires

coordination and accord in their activities.

The interaction of different elements of the system may be indirect,

through the understanding of common objectives. This, however, requires a

link in management. Such a link "is based on a certain program of action

and is, in itself, a method of implementing this program. There is always a

general structure of the process behind a developing operational system.»

General Provisions of Organizing Action Against Drug Abuse:

The above mentioned makes it possible to outline the following

principles of an efficiently organized effort against drug abuse in the

Russian Federation.

As the manifestations of drug abuse continue to grow and diversify, a

real counteraction is possible only in the framework of a well-tested and

scientifically based government policy which defines the forms, tasks and

contents of the government's contribution to this effort. The understanding

of drug abuse phenomenon should be reflected in the Concept of the

government policy towards narcotics. Its principal goal is to secure

legislative and organizational realization of anti-narcotics efforts, bring

harmony and coordination into the activities of different ministries and

departments, draw up a list of priorities and concentrate the available

resources for their synchronized deployment. No other document but such a

Concept can lay the solid foundation for the National Program of

Counteraction against Narcotics. The Program necessarily requires an

approval at the highest level by the President, the government and the

parliament to make all of its provisions mandatory for everyone.

The development of the National Program stands out as one of the most

important tasks among the anti-narcotics measures. It is essential to

invite experts in different fields of research, as well as the

practitioners from the concerned departments to participate in it. The list

of participants, the scope of their duties and the financing are to be

endorsed by the government. The authors of the Program have personal

responsibility for producing a profound analysis of the situation with

drugs, and for the efficiency of the recommended methods for combating drug

abuse. They are also responsible for providing research or organizational

background during the implementation of the steps they have recommended.

The time frame and other specifics of the program must be included in the

resolutions of the government and the parliament.

2. The main goal of the government policy in regard to narcotic

substances should be: a) to prevent their use for other than medical

purposes; b) curb the demand for them; c) and curtail their illegal

manufacturing and turnover. This goal is attainable in practical terms only

through a set of coordinated steps in politics, economy, legislation and

public health. They should be directed at perfecting the laws regulating

narcotics. Methods should be developed of an early identification of the

persons who use drugs for non-medical reasons, of their treatment and

rehabilitation. Policies should be developed counteracting the unlawful

production and sale of drugs at the national and international setting.

3. The mandatory measures of organizational, legislative and material

support of the government policy in the field of drugs fall into two

categories.

The first category implies the establishment of an inter-departmental

anti-narcotics system of measures, which will incorporate the following

elements.

Information support of the program. The departments involved should set

up a data bank to store information about the state of affairs in

narcotics, the proliferation of drugs, the accurate techniques of drug

identification, and other data - national and international - which will

help make decisions and implement measures against narcotics.

Research and technical support. Conducting fundamental research of and

quick response analysis on drugs, the development of advanced techniques

and technologies of halting narcotics should be implemented.

Administrative support. The President, the parliament or the government

should found a special committee entrusted with the overall monitoring of

the drug abuse in the republic. This agency also should map out a uniform

national strategy and tactics, direct and coordinate all the elements of

the struggle against narcotics, and set up subordinate regional committees

and commissions. As need be, it should be able to amend the state policy in

regard to drugs. This agency surely must include psychiatrists specializing

in the treatment of addicts, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists,

teachers, pharmacists, journalists and other specialists and experts, as

well as representatives from the ministries of public health, social

welfare, education, agriculture, foreign economic ties, industry and trade,

transport, telecommunications, foreign affairs, the interior, justice,

finance, national security (as well as of the foreign intelligence

service), air, maritime, and inland water transport, of the State Bank,

Intourist, customs service, and the Prosecutor's Office.

Material support. Financing should be provided for the National Program

to Counteract Drug Abuse in general and for its specific aspects. The

financing structure may include specialized funds.

Medical support. A mechanism of medical interaction on the issues of

drugs must involve all the agencies and departments concerned and their

separate branches.

Support from the system of education. It is necessary to train an

appropriate number of anti-drug specialists with due regard to the

experience gained by their foreign counterparts.

Accountability. Regulated accountability and control of all the

agencies and departments participating in the campaign against narcotics

should be established. The participants will be furnished with special sets

of documents and evaluation criteria. They will bear personal

responsibility for the final results.

The second category of mandatory measures defines the direction of the

effort against narcotics, sets out the target goals and names the

participants. At a minimum, the main direction should be of a simultaneous

offensive on the production, trade and consumption of drugs.

In the field of legislative regulation, a set of laws on combating

narcotics should encompass a) perfection of the effective legal acts on

drugs, b) the legally defined rules of identification, check-up and

voluntary/compulsory treatment of drug addicts, c) the rules of drug

identification, d) legislative support of international cooperation

including the obligations that arise from the international treaties and

agreements, e) elaboration of legal norms to fight drug-related money-

laundering, f) and bringing national legislation in line with the

international laws.

In the field of medicine: the identification, medical treatment and

social rehabilitation of drug addicts presupposes improving the methods of

early diagnosis and treatment of addiction, the development of prophylactic

measures, a system of registering and monitoring drug abusers, the

gathering and analysis of information and information exchange between

relevant departments.

In the sphere of combating drug-related crimes, it is essential to

suppress the illegal cultivation of plants containing narcotic substances,

improve control over the transportation of narcotics across borders, and

curb their clandestine manufacture. It is also necessary to control the

manufacturing, storage and trade in the chemicals and equipment, which may

be used in the illegal production of drugs. The stamping-out of such crimes

necessitates stringent regulatory mechanisms in the production,

transportation and use of narcotic substances for medical and research

purposes, as required by the international conventions, advancement of

investigative methods, improvement in the customs service, administrative

and other forms of curtailing crimes linked to drugs and limiting the

illegal demand for them. The circle of involved participants in actions

against narcotics, especially in the field of prophylactics and halting the

spread of drug abuse should be enlarged through unconventional forms and

methods of work, such as invigorating the efforts of religious and

charitable organizations, private companies, psychological aid centers,

army units, and so on.

Understandably, the suggested list of efforts is not exhaustive.

Nonetheless, it puts the emphasis on the main directions and can be viewed

as a version of a multifaceted approach toward organizing a program of

action combating drug abuse.

The Experience of Countries:

The experience of countries that have developed national programs against

drug abuse can be very instrumental in drawing up a national anti-narcotics

program.

In 1982, the United States adopted a program against drug trafficking

and organized crime. Its implementation presumed mapping out a special

presidential policy and the participation of the governors of all the

states.

The USA:

The then US President Ronald Reagan sanctioned the allocation of an

additional USD 130 million to the Department of Justice budget for the

implementation of that program. These funds were distributed to the federal

law-enforcement agencies, the judiciary, penitentiaries and the police. The

administration envisioned an increase in the number of prosecutors, FBI

agents, and the personnel of anti-drug departments, customs services, the

coast guards, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration Naturalization Service,

and other departments.

More than a half of the allocation was set aside as salary and bonuses

for special service agents. The rest was spent on modernizing police

equipment, the renovation of the state and federal prisons, and enhancement

of the FBI technical capabilities in neutralizing criminals who can afford

the most up-to-date listening devices and surveillance equipment.

The program also made provisions for creating special regional task

force, and creating programs for participation in actions against drug

abuse by the state, as well as for more room in federal jails. Coordination

committees responsible to the Secretary of Justice were established in all

of the 94 Federal judicial districts. The committees were obliged to make

up plans for fighting grave crimes at the county, state and national

levels.

It was for the first time that a program envisioned deployment of the

armed forces against the spread of drugs. Their task was to detect and

detain traffickers, especially at the US-Mexican border and in the

Caribbean.

A variety of drug prevention programs were developed at the regional

level, such as the program of aid to potential abusers and their victims in

the District of Columbia or the program against the abuse of drugs and

alcohol by adolescents in Maryland. Many of them, however, remained

ineffective not because they lacked professionalism, but more often because

the moves lacked coordination. Not rare was the shortage of financing,

technical and personnel support.

In 1989, the US adopted the national strategy against drugs, which is

executed by more than thirty federal departments, including the CIA.

American experts believe that the US share of the worldwide consumption of

drugs is more than a fifty per cent. They also consider drug trafficking as

a global threat which cannot be controlled by the efforts of a single

country. There must be international cooperation to settle this bedeviling

problem.

Since the bulk of drugs originate outside the US, the Administration

put an emphasis on attacking drug dealers on their home territory and on

stepping up counteraction to the proliferation and sale of drugs inside the

country. The strategy evidently has flaws, as the situation shows no signs

of dramatic improvement.

Canada:

On May 25th, 1987, the Canadian government officially introduced a

national strategy against drug abuse. The strategy had resulted from long

consultations with provincial governments, different private organizations

and individual specialists. The goal of the strategy was to shape a unified

course of actions against the abuse of drugs in Canada.

The general supervision of its implementation was vested in the

Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Other participants were the Royal

Mounted Police of Canada, the Directorate of the Penitentiaries, the

Ministry of Justice, the Customs Department and the Excise Tax Service, the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Training and Youth.

The main goal was to work out a balanced line of action that would meet

the needs of all Canadians, bring down the impact of alcohol and other

stimulants on individuals, families and entire communities. The strategy

comprised six directions of action: 1)education and prevention, 2)control

over law abidance, 3) medical treatment and rehabilitation, 4) gathering of

information and research, 5) international cooperation 6) and national

policy. Over two-thirds of the resources were directed into the

educational, preventive and treatment programs to curtail demand on the

banned substances.

The Royal Mounted Police had the assignment to help develop and

implement five initiatives on restraining the supply of and the demand for

drugs, namely 1) a program to curb the black marketing of drugs, 2) the

coordination of coastal guard patrol, 3) the gathering and processing of

data on drugs, 4) technical assistance to foreign countries and 5) an

educational program.

Canadian experts note that it is hard to measure the effects of this

program yet, but all the above measures contribute to saving lives and

making the nation healthier.

The United Kingdom:

The British government is acting upon a multifaceted anti-narcotic

strategy that it adopted in 1994. There are five strategic priority aspects

in it 1) cutting down drug imports, 2) raising the efficiency of law

enforcement, 3) exercising effective deterrence measures and strict control

inside the country, 4) organizing preventive efforts, and improving the

treatment and 5) the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

The government strategy is based on the assumption that all the

problems of narcotics are inter-related. Therefore, parallel measures

against the supply and demand of drugs are necessary. It is intended to

scale down illegal imports of drugs by supporting international efforts

against their manufacture and trade, reinforcing the customs and police

force, toughening control over the legitimate production, and consumption

of drugs for medical purposes, deterring drug dealers by heavy fines and

depriving them of their illegal profits.

The struggle to curtail demand must follow two general lines - keeping

the new addicts from abuse and rendering aid to those whom have developed

addiction.

To ensure proper interaction of all the elements of this strategy, the

British government has set up a working inter-departmental group from among

the ministers and high-ranking executives. The parliamentary deputy home

secretary heads the group. Also participating in its work are officials of

the home office, the ministries of health, social welfare, and finance, the

customs service, the department of overseas territories, the environmental

department, and so on.

The new government-run intelligence service for drugs has replaced the

older drugs central intelligence. Police and customs officers staff the

government-run intelligence. Its duty is to gather, analyze and distribute

information obtained either abroad or at home.

The regional anti-drug departments have special support units. The

customs service has been reinforced by top-class specialists and top-notch

smuggling clampdown equipment. In compliance with the 1986 law on illegal

drug trade, the police and the courts have received broader authority as to

the identification, freezing and confiscation of drug dealers' profits. In

1988 the UK and the USA signed a bilateral agreement on the confiscation of

the discredited bank assets.

The police and the customs service have formed a special financial

division to accumulate on a national scale, survey and pass down for

further investigation the data on financial issues, i.e. reports from the

banks and other financial institutions on monetary deposits of questionable

origin.

The government has outlined the procedure for police operations against

the three categories of drug dealers, big, medium and small.

Great Britain upholds the international community's efforts by

contributing annually Pound Sterling 150,000 to the UN Fund for Drug Abuse

Control. As mentioned before, the UK also runs a program of assistance to

overseas projects.

Regarding the drug abuse situation, a review of the government measures

underlines that the government-sponsored policy works toward a closer

international cooperation, enhances the efforts of the law-enforcement

agencies, helps the younger generation realize the impact of drug addiction

and boosts the effort against this evil.

Mexico:

The drug control programs in Mexico differ from those in other

countries as Mexico is a hotbed of manufacture and export of opium, heroin

and marijuana and a major cocaine trafficking transit point to the United

States. Some Mexican states have traditional plantations of opium poppy,

marijuana and Indian hemp. Economic hardships often force the farmers into

dealing with drug dealers and prompt the growing of illegal crops, which

produce profits higher than the earnings from lawful businesses. The anti-

drug programs, therefore, focus on mass destruction of narcotic crops from

the air or manually and the involvement of army units in such operations,

harsh penal sanctions, intensive investigation of drug cartels and

trafficking channels, and dissemination of information among the public.

Growing cooperation with the USA on the basis of bilateral agreements

and a treaty of juridical assistance is an important element of the anti-

narcotic policy. It facilitates the identification of drug-related money

laundering in the financial and commercial institutions both in Mexico and

the US. The Advance Guard program presupposes operations to detect and

destroy the plantations of drug-bearing crops. Starting from 1986, units of

the Mexican Army and of the US Coastal Guard have been conducting

operations to detain suppliers of drugs in the Mexican territorial waters,

to confiscate their cars and arms, and to control flights in the border

area as part of the American Mexican operation Alliance.

Spain:

The national program against drug abuse in Spain deserves notice as the

Spanish laws permit soft narcotic substances. Despite the expectations and

arguments of the proponents of drug legalization, drug abuse in Spain does

not subside. Neither does the crime rate. The number of violent assaults to

obtain money for drugs is on the rise. The law-enforcement agencies' task

has been set as eradicating drug abuse, opening specialized medical centers

for the addicts who volunteer to undergo treatment, and combating drug

addiction and prostitution as the factors increasing the risk of AIDS

infection.

The main goals of the Spanish program against drug abuse are to halt

the proliferation of the most heinous drugs like heroin and cocaine,

organize prophylactic measures among the young people of 16-to-18,

promulgate popular knowledge about medicine and treatment of drug addicts

by way of educational lectures, and advance public organizations'

activities.

France:

The French national program against narco-business sponsored by the

Ministry of the Interior and Public Safety focuses on curbing the illegal

trade in drugs, and, in particular, the street vending of narcotic

substances. The document provides for the creation of special-task police

units and a national center to coordinate all police operations against

drug abuse. Narco-business-suppression training courses have been

introduced at police schools. Large police commissariats now have

specialized branches to monitor drug abuse. These branches render practical

and financial assistance to various organizations engaged in fighting

against the abuse of narcotic and toxic chemical substances.

The experience of foreign anti-narcotics programs can be adapted to the

requirements of the Russian Federation and help work out a feasible

National Program of Comprehensive Counteraction to Narcotics

Par. 2. Organization of Medical Counteraction to Narcotics

The primary aspect of the entire anti-narcotics effort is a series of

medical treatment measures. They are carried out by different medical

institutions as actions against narcotics is inalienable from the

activities of public health services of all levels, including the medical

service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1975 the former Soviet

medical authorities detached the addictions treatment service from

psychiatry. Thus the treatment of drug and other addicts became a separate

branch of medicine known as narcology.

The efforts of the medical institutions make up a significant part of

the anti-narcotics strategy. Their goal is to bring about a decrease in the

demand for drugs. This is achieved by the treatment and rehabilitation of

abusers and, in the final run, is a positive factor of a general

improvement in the drug abuse situation.

The measures, which the health centers, are obliged to take, can

roughly be divided into two groups. Group One includes the properly medical

efforts in the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. Group Two embraces

other organizational steps to keep narcotics at bay.

The international community also pays considerable attention to the

treatment of drug addicts. Article 38 of the Uniform Convention on Drugs

states that the signatory countries will take every possible step to

prevent the misuse of narcotic substances, ensure an early identification

of abusers, treat them, restore them to full working capability, re-

socialize, and monitor them after the completion of treatment (Paragraph

1). The countries will train appropriate personnel (Paragraph 2), and will

inform the population about the hazards of drug abuse (Paragraph 3). The

medical treatment of drug addicts is also presupposed by Resolution II of

the UN conference on implementing the Uniform Convention on Drugs.

Reminding of the provisions of Article 38, the conference stressed that

hospital treatment in a drug-free atmosphere is the most efficacious

medical approach to the issue. It recommended that economically potent

countries where drug abuse is a serious problem provide the opportunities

for such treatment.

The Treatment and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts:

The issues of medical treatment/social rehabilitation of addicts and other

relevant measures are to a greater or lesser degree incorporated in the

public health programs of all nations and have found reflection in certain

regional programs. As a rule, these documents emphasize perfection of the

strategies and organization of drug abuse services on the assumption that

drug abuse is a social disease. The other important aspects are financing

and material/technical support, personnel, informing definite sectors of

society on the hazardous impact of addiction, research in the field of more

effective medicine.

Experts, however, warn against an overly simplified belief that

containing drug addiction boils down to the availability of medicines and

available hospital beds. The prophylactics of social illnesses like

alcoholism, misuse of narcotics and toxic chemicals cannot be built upon

the same methods as the treatment of serious infectious diseases. Alongside

pharmaceutics, it requires psychological aid and education which more and

more often involves the addicts' families and friends. It is naive to

believe that medicines and injections alone can bring about the desired

results and that the selection of individually suitable pharmaceutical

preparations gives a clue to the problem of treatment. Good results are

yielded by a combination of psychology and pharmacy. Therefore, the

treatment for drug addiction consumes much painstaking effort of a doctor,

psychologist, educator and other specialists working with a person who is

likely to develop the illness or is ill already.

On the face of it, the issues of treatment and prophylactics

necessitate comprehensive programming and proficient organization. Their

solution lies in the medico-biological, medico-psychological and medico-

social spheres.

From the standpoint of government policy, public health institutions

have the exclusive authority to treat drug addicts by officially approved

methods, including compulsory treatment of the addicts who pose danger to

society.

According to the results expected in this field, health centers must

organize and effectuate a series of measures destined to establish firm

grounds for progress in the drug abuse situation.

In the first place, this means the early identification, diagnosis and

registration of the persons who use drugs for non-medical purposes and

hence stand in need of prophylactic and treatment. However, shortcomings in

the existing methods of express-diagnostics and in the expert check-ups of

drug addicts make establishing the degree and the type of drug dependence

somewhat problematic.

Identification, Diagnosis, and Registration of Drug Users:

The identified addicts may belong to different age and social groups;

their condition may have a different degree of narcotic neglect. This fact

may influence the choice, distribution and intensity of medical measures,

as well as their combination with other types of aid.

Of particular importance is the early identification of addicts among

the young and the adolescents. A timely medical interference, caring

participation and influence of parents, relatives, teachers, police

officers, and the atmosphere of friendliness can stop the youngsters' slump

into illness.

When the consumers of different drugs have been identified, it is

exigent to inform the police to enable it to find the sources of drugs and

trafficking channels and execute other preventive measures.

Information is especially important if the drugs have been manufactured

illegally or their origins are unclear.

The following list of measures can help identify the individuals who

misuse narcotic substances:

medical check-ups of industrial labor staffs, school and college

students;

medical check-ups of inmates in jails and penitentiaries;

medical examination of the perpetrators of drug abuse for further

registration and treatment, including compulsory treatment;

specialized testing of certain professionals (the military, pilots,

drivers of all means of transport, police officers) for the bodily presence

of narcotic substances;

revealing the most dangerous forms of drug abuse that complicated

detoxification, revealing the cases of multiple drug misuse (the combined

use of more than one drug) and the cases of an intertwined abuse of drugs

and alcohol;

identification of addicts who carry the HIV and other infectious

diseases, elimination of the consequences of infectious transmission;

timely registration, treatment and rehabilitation of those who need it.

Another way to improve the health servicing of drug abusers is to

organize:

fundamental research; development of efficacious pharmaceutical

preparations and novel methods of treatment for different types of narcotic

dependence, their speedy translation into public health practices; large-

scale contribution to research from Russian and foreign scientists (the

Academy of Sciences, medical, pedagogical, psychological and other research

institutions, application of practices adopted abroad);

accelerated training of highly qualified personnel (addictive

conditions psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, social workers) at

medical colleges and upper level courses, specialized training of medical

attendants, nurses and technicians. The study program should cover not only

the novel methods of treatment, but also the specifics of contacts with the

drug addicts and methods of readiness for treatment and prophylactic

practice;

organization of new preventive-treatment/ registration clinics, out-

patient departments at industrial facilities and offices, emergency aid

centers and a wide publication of data on their mode of operation,

anonymous and commercial treatment centers for drug addicts;

extensive adoption by drug-abuse monitoring services of the

achievements in the medical science, psychology, pedagogy, pharmacy, and

special-purpose technology;

modernization of drug-abuse monitoring services, improvement of

material supplies and provision of the necessary personnel.

The post-treatment rehabilitation measures should include: a) the

creation of purpose-oriented government-run and charity funds, ex-drug

abusers support funds and diverse forms of work with them; b) development

of rehabilitation methods based on the effective analysis of the existing

rehabilitation procedures and of qualification levels of the personnel; c)

psychological assistance to the former abusers' families, relatives, and

friends who must be taught the techniques of exerting favorable influence

on the patients.

Equally important is the organization of other anti-narcotics efforts

taken by public health institutions.

The health of the nation is an important element of the social and

economic development of a country. From this angle, the popularization of a

rational way of life, the cultivation of respect for human health as the

basic value of society ranks high among the priorities of medical

institutions.

Publicizing Information Against Drugs:

A skillful and persistent dissemination of knowledge about the

destructive impact of drugs and their detriment for the future generations

is a crucial activity of medical institutions in the struggle against

narcotics.

It is advisable to find a particular audience and do masterly

presentations. Lectures and discussions are not the only means of knowledge

dissemination. Meetings with former drug addicts and presentations about

broken human lives have also proved productive.

To increase the prophylactic effects of popularization, it would be

useful to train the instructors on the methods and tactics of campaigning

against narcotics, design a system of mass anti-narcotic education, based

on medical science, provide the necessary teaching aids, control and

stimulate this activity.

Organization of Control Over the Use of Narcotic Substances:

Public health institutions have responsibilities in exercising control

over narcotic substances under international conventions, treaties,

agreements and other forms of international cooperation in combating drug

abuse. As mentioned earlier, their primary responsibility is to control the

proper use of drugs, the correct taking of their stock, their storage,

distribution and removal. The issue of special prominence is the storage of

narcotic substances at medical institutions and warehouses and the

thwarting of attempts to misappropriate them. Inspections often expose

serious flaws in this field.

To rule out a possible abuse, leakage or misappropriation of drugs, the

following list of measures is essential:

guarding narcotic substance storage facilities, fitting them out with

new equipment and fire/break-in alarm systems connected to the central

control panel or to the 24-hour operational medical personnel or guards

mail;

proper protection of the points where drugs are stored in small

quantities for distribution as administered by the physicians;

tightened control over big-batch long-term storage facilities like the

warehouses of regional drug-store administrations, and strategic reserves

warehouses;

regular inspections at narcotic drug warehouses;

strict abidance by the rules of taking stock, storage and use of drugs

for medical purposes;

a timely exchange of information with the police on the above issues

and cooperation in drawing up the lists of drug storage facilities.

Experience suggests that a successful solution of the problem depends

on the depth of our insight into it. This is especially true of such a

complex issue as the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts

regardless of what stage they are at. That is why the fullest and the most

objective information is essential for the medical and other institutions

to organize a counter-offensive against drug abuse. With that goal in mind,

public health centers should adhere to the following organizational

guidelines:

gathering and analysis of information on the conditions of drug

addicts, tendencies in and results of their treatment and rehabilitation,

and types and means of using drugs and the impact they have;

interaction with other institutions and departments in concrete forms

of anti-narcotics activities in such large-scale operations as Poppy and

Doping, in check-ups and research;

control surveys prepared by the narcology service.

Organizational support for these guidelines could be achieved through:

the establishment of a strict procedure for and the terms of turning

in, and registration of documents, supply of dependable information on the

actual situation with drugs and their sales and use for both medical and

non-medical purposes, on the individuals perpetrating misuse, supply of

other data essential for making specific decisions;

cooperation with other departments in holding joint selective research

and express-tests to obtain reliable information on the actual levels of

drug abuse, the damage it inflicts, the effects of treatment and other

types of aid to the addicts;

scheduled and unscheduled departmental and/or inter-departmental

inspections of how control over drugs is maintained, and how the rules of

their use and storage are observed;

analysis and broad publicity of the achievements of medical staffs who

have a record of positive results in combating narcotics, as well as

provision of incentives.

The scope of health institutions' duties also embraces revealing and

timely informing the relevant departments and the public at large on

dangerous tendencies in drug abuse, new varieties of stupefying substances,

the techniques of their manufacture and the means of use. The public health

system develops the adequate methods of prevention, treatment, and

counteraction.

Par. 3. Enforcement of Legal Measures of Narcotics Counteraction

The organization of legal enforcement of anti-narcotics measures falls

into three groups:

1) application of legal administrative and criminal legal norms

regulating the prevention and suppression of narcotics; 2) government legal

measures to set and refine law enforcement and other agencies combating

narcotics; 3) international anti-narcotics measures.

Group One includes compulsory treatment of drug addicts and measures

against drug-related crimes. Compulsory treatment of drug addicts is a law-

enforcement measure aimed at cutting down the non-medical use of narcotic

substances. It can be administered by the court to an addict who evades

voluntary treatment or who continues misusing drugs after a course of

treatment. If an addict commits a crime, the court metes out punishment in

combination with compulsory treatment.

Compulsory treatment of Drug Addicts:

Compulsory treatment is prescribed to all categories of abusers at medical

institutions with a specialized treatment procedure in the course of work

therapy. If criminal punishment is imposed, the treatment is executed at

the penitentiary during the term of imprisonment.

Placement of drug addicts to mandatory treatment centers is in the

domain of responsibilities of police departments. This activity goes hand

in hand with the following organizational measures:

identification of individuals perpetrating drugs abuse;

administering a medical examination, and a compulsory visit to a

medical institution in case of a refusal to undergo the procedure

voluntarily;

compulsory hospitalization for complete check-up upon conclusion of a

narcologist (psychiatrist specializing in addictive conditions -

translator's note). Notification is given to the prosecutor's office and,

if an underage addict is hospitalized, to his or her parents.

timely and renewable registration of drug addicts at the drug-patient

monitoring clinics, and prophylactic registration of the individuals whose

misuse of drugs has not yet acquired the form of an illness;

supervision over the daily way of life of the registered patients and

checking their attempts to skip compulsory treatment, imposition of other

measures of educational, medical and legal influence;

issuance of documents for placing the addicts who avoid mandatory

treatment to rehabilitation and work-therapy clinics and specialized drug-

abuse Medicare centers; filing documents on treatment of evaders with the

courts;

escorting of addicts to the places of mandatory treatment, registration

of individuals who were formerly sentenced for drug-related crimes or fell

under administrative liability for misuse of drugs;

individual prophylactic measures against addicts to whom corrective

labor has been meted out without a term of imprisonment, or whose sentences

have been suspended or deferred;

treatment of drug addicts at corrective labor institutions

simultaneously with serving a term, supervision over inmates' treatment and

behavior.

Organizational Law Enforcement Measures against Drug-related Crimes:

Other organizational law enforcement measures against narcotics-related

crimes are: locating the illegal plantations of narcotic-bearing crops and

identifying their growers, eradicating such plantations, securing

prohibitions to grow narcotic substance containing crops, making special

maps upon the inspections of gardens, private plots of land and wastelands,

cooperating with agriculture experts, army units and other departments

concerned, carrying out special task operations and disseminating

information on drugs.

It is of paramount importance to reorganize the system of guarding

government-controlled plantations of hemp and the like crops or create such

a system in the places where it is absent. This measure is closely linked

to the development of advanced methods of crop guarding, especially, in

harvesting seasons. Work by shifts and material incentives may prove

effective. Good results can also be obtained through the improvement of

technical and chemical means of protection.

To limit the access of the public at large to the areas of government-

sponsored drug- bearing crop plantations, it would stand to reason to

establish special passport and traffic control in such areas.

Organization of Measures to Suppress Drug-dealing:

The measures to suppress drug dealing are the most important issue at

present. Manufacture and trade in narcotics has become a branch of the

shadow economy. It is gaining momentum, creating production facilities and

channels of distribution. In a large number of cases the understaffed law

enforcement departments are unable to rebuff the onslaught of drug

manufacturers and offer sound alternatives to all aspects of drug abuse.

The illegal production of drugs that spill over the state borders and

continents is at the top of the world community's agenda. Particular

significance is attached to the clandestine drug laboratories.

In the wake of it, it is exigent to set up specialized police

departments, which will concentrate the officers of high professional

expertise, and to provide them with the necessary material and technical

support.

Foreign experts believe tangible results in eradicating clandestine

laboratories can be achieved if police operations to uncover the channels

by which the raw materials arrive and the end product is dispatched are

synchronized with the efforts to block access to chemical substances and

equipment the manufacture of drugs requires. This, however, is not easy as

some drug synthesis components such as acetic anhydride, ether, benzene,

acetone are extensively used in the industrial sector. Their industrial

consumption is not controlled in practical terms since, in most countries,

legislation does not regulate the production, storage and use of these

chemicals.

Experts in Germany propose in this connection that the laws against

drugs should extend to cover these chemicals too. But the output and

industrial use of the above substances is so massive that the attempts to

take them under control within the boundaries of a single country have

yielded no results while entailing substantial expenditure on organizing

the control service.

Another measure suggested is marking the packing of chemical substances

with special marks that would help the police identify the country of

origin and the manufacturer. Such a step, however, is unproductive as in

most cases the police does not get a hold of packing of the chemicals which

had already been used.

Experts consider as more promising the special laboratory tests of the

confiscated narcotic substances and chemicals used in the manufacture of

drugs. The tests can be more helpful in identifying the country of origin,

elucidating specific features of the technological process and other

fundamental properties of the chemicals.

For instance, specialists of the German institute of criminology have

designed on the basis of the American and Swedish experience methods of

identifying the places of origin of heroin through chromatographic testing.

Experts believe the most effective way to control the proliferation of

the substances used in drug manufacturing could be the marking of such

substances with dyes or radiation. The weak point of the method is a

possible impact the marking may have on the qualities of the chemicals and

the end products. Besides, it would contradict the legislation of many

countries and some international agreements. That is why the researchers of

anti-narcotic methods tend to pin hopes on the method of a different nature

- self-control. It encompasses a set of police-proposed measures that are

effectuated by the services directly involved in actions against illegal

manufacturing, trafficking and trade in drugs, as well as by all companies

and individuals who have a connection with the manufacturing, sales and use

of narcotics and auxiliary chemicals. According to this concept, the

producers, suppliers and consumers of chemicals report to the police all

suspicious purchases. The police, in its turn, work out detailed

recommendation and criteria for such cases. Examples of these criteria are

above-the- statistic-average size of a purchased batch of chemicals, a

request from a new client, etc. Such kind of reporting gives the police

more opportunities to locate illegal laboratories, channels of raw

materials supplies and dispatch of the end product.

An imperative condition for putting in effect practical anti-narcotics

measures is stringent control over the narcotic raw materials and their

storage and limitations on trade in them.

It is important to note those drug-dealing affects the legitimate

turnover of narcotic substances. Violations of the rules of their storage,

manufacturing, and accounting continue increasing. There are

misappropriations and other offenses, including attacks on warehouses of

narcotic preparations in health centers, drug stores, etc. Executives do

not take adequate measures to safeguard narcotic substances and sometime

become accomplices in crimes. A possible explanation for this state of

affairs is the breach of the rules outlined above.

It is important to reveal violations of the effective rules of

manufacturing, storage, accounting, and sales of narcotic preparations,

invoking criminal liability when necessary. This necessitates joint steps

by the anti-drug units, licensing system of the internal affairs ministry,

fire detachments and units of extra-departmental guards.

The perpetrators of drug-related crimes' utmost secrecy calls for the

improvement in the procedures of investigation in strict compliance with

the criminal law procedures.

Crime Investigation Organizational Measures:

An important element in this process is the interaction between

detectives and investigators. The best and well-tested form of this

interaction is the setting-up of temporary or, as need be, permanently

functioning inquiry/investigation groups. These groups focus the efforts of

all branches of the police on drug-related crimes. The main directions of

activities (with due regard to the limits of professional competence of

each member of the group) are:

a) gathering and systematic analysis of all the incoming and requested

information on drug-related crimes and malefactors;

b) identification of criminal groupings and measures toward halting

their activities;

c) police actions to prevent and halt misappropriations of drugs and

other offenses in medicare institutions and other organizations;

d) police actions taken simultaneously with the investigation as

envisaged by the criminal law court procedure;

e) quality emergency investigation, completeness, objectivity and

timeliness of inquiry and investigation;

f) tactical planning and expedient conduct of search and technical

operations; professional conduct of operations; employment of investigation

and other technologies to supply the investigators with testimonies and eye-

witness accounts of the offenders' guilt;

g) professional analysis of the ways of using the results of search and

technical operations in investigation procedures.

Par. 4. Other Organizational Measures to Combat Narcotics

Narcotics can be overcome only if approaches to anti-narcotics activity

are fundamentally revised, its concrete trends are mapped out and the

control over the end results achieved by each ministry and department,

responsible for curbing this social evil.

Up-to-date scales and forms of narcotics proliferation show that the

measures, applied within the framework of established structures, are not

particularly successful. There is no proper interaction between the

ministries and the departments, called upon to handle these matters; work

is carried out far too often formally without essential drive, consistence,

and organization; the system of preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative

help remains inadequate; and anti-narcotic campaign is ineffective.

For this reason, organizational medical and law enforcement steps can

and must be backed by measures to resist drug abuse in all spheres and at

all levels of state power to avoid their imbalance and flaws in the all-out

anti-narcotics crusade.

The practical experience of daily anti-narcotics activity calls for a

significant impact from the top government agencies.

It is at this level that measures should be adopted for creating and

implementing a single national strategy against narcotics. For this end, a

single permanent executive body, empowered to control narcotics and capable

of coordinating comprehensive actions daily against drug addiction and drug-

related crimes must be created. The formation of such a body, representing

all the ministries and departments concerned, will make it possible to

organize a prompt and permanent government action against narcotics,

coordinate efforts of government agencies, and other organizations, as well

as individuals, and maintain contact with international organizations.

Lawmaking measures:

It is important to revitalize government-sponsored efforts toward

hammering out a single anti-narcotics legislation, matching international

standards, including 1) a law on the `control over the legal distribution

of narcotics, strong substances, precursors, and 2) on the responsibility

for such offences as: drugs extortion; illegal actions with government-

owned chemicals and special equipment and their use to make drugs; 3)

organizational forms of perpetrating drug-related crimes; 4) various

commercial and financial operations on money laundering.

Due to the latter, it is necessary to give law enforcement agencies

more authority to get from banks and other institutions and organizations

necessary data on accounts and other financial transactions of persons,

suspected of unlawful actions with narcotics.

Besides, it appears reasonable to amend the current legislation by

expanding authority and creating appropriate conditions for law-enforcement

agencies (police) to a) conduct searches of luggage, including carry-on

luggage, of passengers at all kinds of transport facilities, b) check

controlled shipments and cargoes, c) check state purchases of drugs, d)

conduct medical examinations of citizens, e) set a more flexible procedure

of placing drug addicts for medical treatment, f) a more flexible system of

administrative detaining and arresting of citizens, and g) to practice more

extensively the protocol form of pre-trial materials preparation.

Organizational Measures at Government Level:

It would be expedient to carry out a number of organizational anti-

narcotics measures at government level. They include:

- creating a stable system of information for regional law-enforcement

agencies about treaties, agreements, and protocols, concluded and signed by

countries, governments, and departments, about procedures and requirements

of signing such documents, about Interpol National Central Bank's

opportunities to combat specific types of crimes, and about requests'

formulation requirements;

- putting the NCB on round-the-clock duty to meet local requests;

- speeding up the creation of effective border customs control and

adopting measures against the use of a country as a transit point to ship

drugs to other regions;

- toughening control over the production and supplies of drug-bearing

substances in chemical pharmacology and other areas, where they are used

for lawful purposes.

A positive solution should be found to the issue of opening more

medical centers, improving anti-drug addiction therapy, and manufacturing

and acquiring more effective medicines, which involves much government

spending and a search for sources of funding. Simultaneously, special

government-financed short and long term comprehensive medical programs

should be worked out and put into effect to block the consumption and sale

of drugs; really re-socialize drug addicts; stop AIDS from spreading; spare

no effort toward revitalizing non-governmental organizations' activity,

aimed at reducing the demand for narcotics.

Measures to Train Personnel:

One should bear in mind that in most cases, the first contact with drug

addicts, that is with seriously ill people, is made by the officers of law

enforcement (police) agencies who have neither practical nor psychological

skills of dealing with ill persons. But even a physician is required

alongside professional knowledge, to display ethical norms, which quite

often are crucial for the recovery of mentally imbalanced patients. For

this reason, it is especially urgent and important to draw up teaching

aides and methodological recommendations for law- enforcement agencies, not

only on the tactics but also on the ethics of dealing with drug addicts,

especially young ones. It is necessary to put the experience, gained by the

police in anti-drug addiction prophylactic actions, into practice as soon

as possible.

Polish scientists identify three groups of young drug addicts: 1) those

who can but do not want to stop using drugs; 2) those who would like to

give up drugs but cannot do so on their own; 3) and those who do not want

and can not drop the ruinous dependence.

The principles of treating representatives of each of these groups

differ considerably. The experience of drug addicts' treatment shows that

two opposite trends dominate in the systems accepted up to date. The first

prefers tolerance, partnership, and medical treatment, excluding coercion

and punishment. The second envisages tough regimentation toward drug

addicts. However, there is one requirement that is common for both systems

- indispensable compliance with the principle of voluntary consent.

There are several varieties of pedagogics as industrial, military,

agricultural, and medical. The latter, also called orthopedagogics, deals

with upbringing children with defects. In the field of criminological

prophylaxis, essential is the role of resocialization, i.e. of the

educational effect on persons, poorly adapted to life in society. According

to the criminological literature, "the basic goal in penitentiaries, is to

create conditions for the social adaptation of persons after their prison

term is over.» All these sources of knowledge should be made instrumental

in combating drug abuse.

At the government level, interdepartmental programs involving a wide

range of experts and the media should be worked out and implemented on

educational and prophylactic campaign among the population.

Foreign Experience in Prophylactics:

Foreign experience deserves attention in this respect. Poland, for one,

attaches great significance to public anti-drug addiction campaigns.

Specialists are convinced that drug abuse should be addressed by the public

organizations and individuals, among them - well known scientists, artists,

writers, and clerics.

The catholic church plays a special role. Maximilian Conbeg's Society

has all parishes offered to its program of temperance, urging them to

abstain not only from drugs but also from all unnatural desires. The

program has been backed across the board. Each diocese has priests

specially trained to render professional aid to drug addicts and to help

them return to society.

The Catholic University offers a course of lectures, which are to help

drug addicts; the newly organized Drug Prevention Society has basic

activities coinciding with that of the government and its main tasks are to

treat drug addicts, return them to society and prevent drug-related crimes.

The Society provides therapy for drug afflicted persons, and

recommendations on how to regain the healthy way of life. The Polish

Psychiatrists' Society has an anti-drug addiction commission, pursuing

mainly scientific objectives.

The Monar youth movement immensely contributes to the anti-drug

campaign sparing no effort to return drug addicts to society by interacting

with medics. Religious and public organizations are actively involved in

anti-narcotics campaigns in other countries, too.

At the same time, it is only within the framework of a government-

sponsored program that all issues, pertaining to the destruction of drug-

bearing crops, must be addressed. For that it is necessary to create

independent agencies, furnished with advanced equipment, aircraft, motor

vehicles and other means. Such agencies can be allowed appropriate

functions only after clearance by a team of ecological experts. Here in,

strict criminal responsibility must be enforced for carrying out such

actions that destroy the environment and harm flora and fauna. There must

be compensation.

The solution of this issue depends upon the possibility of deploying

the armed forces. In the USA the army plays a key role in monitoring drug

trafficking routes. The Defense Department carries out the following

measures against criminal narco-business:

- searching for drug-bearing crops, secret laboratories, storages and

drug distribution points;

- discovering and destroying sources of producing drugs (cocaine,

marijuana, etc);

- putting under control all possible routes of smuggling drugs into the

country (by sea, by air, across land border);

- assisting state law-enforcement agencies in exposing the channels of

drug proliferation by using intelligence sensors and photo equipment in

border territories;

- coordinating operations to intercept ships and aircraft, suspected of

illegal drugs shipment;

- patrolling the coast by interceptor planes, ships, posting radars,

balloon systems to monitor low-flying objects, etc.;

- measures to get enlisted and non-enlisted army personnel cut drugs

consumption.

In 1990, the military, using search equipment, capable of locating

submerged cables and pipelines, discovered an underground tunnel at the

border with Mexico, a tunnel through which huge consignments of drugs were

smuggled into the USA. In the last few years, four anti-narcotics

techniques have been in focus: computerized systems, advanced means of

communication, field laboratory analyzers, remote chemical detectors (photo-

acoustic and laser spectroscopes for locating specific drug production

sites.) Experts regard as promising instruments for checking baggage and

cargo containers. These instruments operate on nonlinear radar principles.

Organization of Comprehensive Studies:

By combining the efforts of scientists and experts it would be possible

to avoid haste with setting up new creative teams and, instead, apply to

the database for information, learn its source and its author, and decide

whether it's simpler to use it rather than carry out studies anew. Such an

approach would be quite beneficial for those whose work has so far been

wasted and for those who urgently need scientific information.

This would also speed up the process of solving a number of drug

problems by cutting the time for scientific research and decreasing

inevitable material costs.

Functions of the Head Branch of the Anti-narcotics Agency:

Changes in the given situation call for an appropriate effective

response, a revision of the content and volume of work, correction of

functions carried out at the departmental level.

Particularly responsible is the role of the head branch of the agency

integrated in the Ministry of Internal Affairs which studies, analyzes,

sums up and monitors information on narcotics in the country, informs

appropriate institutions and departments about it, sets priorities in

actions against narcotics, adopts measures to attain them, and carries out

other managerial functions. This agency also arranges and takes part in

concrete anti-narcotics campaigns. These include measures to prevent the

illegal growth of drug-bearing crops (plan, organize, and carry out POPPY

operations, etc.); to curb theft of drugs and highly effective medicinal

substances; discover underground laboratories (develop, plan and carry out

Doping operations); uncover the most sophisticated crimes (by taking direct

part in investigative and search actions upon arrival on site, providing

methodological, informational and technical aid); expose persons and

criminal gangs with inter-regional and international narco-business links;

join other services in carrying out preventive operations at airports,

railway stations, customs offices to detain criminals, check the baggage,

eliminate drug trafficking channels; upgrade work toward preventing and

exposing drug-related crimes.

The volume of applicable law measures at this level bears a selective

nature, being many inferiors to the volume of managerial and other

functions. It would be more rational and effective however to rid these

branches completely of any forms of direct involvement in preventing,

exposing, and curbing crimes and thereby extend managerial functions by

raising demands for professional leadership and service management by

augmenting the staff functions of these branches and limiting their role in

exposing and curbing crimes to appropriate qualified essential methods and

effective control.

Perfecting Internal Affairs Ministry Work:

To make law-enforcement agencies anti-drug trafficking activity more

efficient, the Internal Affairs Ministry could:

- draft comprehensive anti-drug addiction programs;

- perfect the departmental normative basis, create methods and analysis

teaching aids and video-films;

- participate in the work to bring republican anti-narcotics

legislation in line with the international acts;

- create a normative-legal basis to ensure a mechanism for bilateral

and multilateral international cooperation;

- work out, create, and introduce in day-to-day activity a mechanism of

control over the emerging narcotic situation and coordinate reaction to its

changes;

- adopt measures to provide the branches with appropriate equipment and

special devices;

- create automated information-search systems with wide-ranging

possibilities to combat criminal narco-business;

- set out short and long term guidelines;

- determine resources for the target-oriented organizational,

informative, promptly investigative and material-technical support of areas

with widespread drug abuse and rampant crime;

- control the formation of local branches and their activities;

- organize interaction between law-enforcement (police) agencies,

serving at areas where drugs are grown, trafficked, and consumed;

- coordinate various branches' activity to carry out joint measures

toward exposing criminal gangs with inter-regional contacts and carrying

out prophylactic measures on air, sea, river, and auto transport;

- form computer data banks on drug trafficking at republican and

international levels;

- follow the USA and other countries' experience in setting up special

mobile units, armed with the most advanced military hardware and teach

methods and ecologically safe technologies of drug crops' destruction;

- promote law-enforcement (police) agencies' cooperation with customs,

national security agencies, army and border troops;

- educate territorial agencies on various methods of work;

- plan cooperation with foreign agencies in preventing drugs and raw

material for narcotics from being smuggled in from other regions practicing

a specific form of controllable supplies envisaged by the 1988 UN

Convention and exert control over such cooperation;

- organize and control scientific research and apply it;

- to study, sum up, and apply positive foreign experience;

One should bear in mind that the campaign against narcotics is part of

the universal action against organized crime. Efficiency at the local level

makes it possible to expose not only drug-related crimes but also felonies,

especially those involving violence and theft.

If all these organizational measures are put into practice, the

campaign against narcotics in the Russian Federation will be more

effective.

Conclusion

The international community sees narcotics as one of the most dangerous

social evils. International legal acts, as well as national legislations,

including that of the Russian Federation, contain numerous norms regulating

actions against narcotics bound to suppress and prevent it. Moves are made

to perfect and update these norms so that they could counteract new forms

and methods of committing drug-related crimes. Naturally enough, legal

regulations trail after criminal thought in these and other criminal

offenses.

To narrow the gap between the rapid advancement of criminal know-how

and the introduction of the new anti-crime legislation there is a need to

monitor the spread of narcotics, assess it, watch its dynamics, forecast

its progress and carry out appropriate research. Monitoring and research

are to help pinpoint the sensitive spots of drug abuse and work out new

legal norms and methods for dealing with them.

Highly important are the application of legal norms and the planning of

various measures aiming to oppose narcotics.

Private business has been made legal in the new social and economic

conditions. Under the guise of legally established private enterprises

underground drug manufacturing laboratories and drug trade hideouts

(houses, apartments) have begun functioning as unofficial operational

reports confirm. Illegal efforts to produce and sell drugs and the tendency

for their proliferation demand emergency antidrug legislation. Illegally-

operating drug-producing and drug-selling companies present a much bigger

threat to society than all other drug-related ventures do, now that they

(a) spread new varieties of and increasingly more hazardous drugs, (b)

increase, drug production and sales manifold, (c) promote an organized

system of narcobusiness and, consequently, the takeover of drug-trafficking

by organized criminal groups, (d) take monopoly control of drug-trafficking

and reap super-profits in this field, (e) take drug-trafficking operations

beyond the national borders and make use of their foreign connections for

the acquisition, manufacture, transportation, sending, smuggling and sale

of drugs. Their activities prompt many related crimes.

All this calls for moves to update the Russian Criminal Code with

articles on legal responsibility for the production and sale of drugs which

must be considered to belong to the categories of serious and most serious

criminal offenses punishable by ten to fifteen years of imprisonment and

the confiscation of property.

The climatic conditions on the territory of Russian Federation favor

the natural growth and cultivation of drug-bearing plants, which may be, or

are already, used for the purpose of drug production. This calls for the

need to constantly perfect methods of exposing and destroying such plants,

both those that are wild and those that are raised, which, in turn, calls

for a wide range of financial and organizational efforts.

Its geographic and geopolitical position makes the Russian Federation a

convenient trans-shipment point on the road from Asia to other former

Soviet republics and on to Europe. The Russian government, its law-

enforcement agencies, in particular, must, as a result, check illegal

attempts to take drugs across the national border, bolster up its customs

services and see to it that they upgrade their performance and work in

close cooperation with the territorial and traffic police and other

agencies expected to carry out programs of action against narcotics.

The newly gained independence requires that the Russian Federation

confront two problems directly related to narcotics and efforts to overcome

it.

First of all, borders between Russia and other former Soviet republics

show the highest degree of transparency, i.e. border-crossing presents

almost no problem. Given the geographic and geopolitical position of

Russia, the transparency of the national border aggravates the problem of

drug smuggling and calls for the need to essentially fortify the border and

better customs control along it.

Secondly, there is the problem of international relations in the field

of narcotics and international efforts to deal with it. There are two

angles to this second problem. Now that it has gained sovereignty, Russia

has to assume upon itself the functions of establishing and maintaining

international relations, especially since it represents a sort of a link in

the chain that ties drug- producers and drug-consuming regions together.

The second angle of this problem lies in the fact that once being a

part of the Soviet Union, Russian Federation neither faced nor could

possibly face obstacles concerning the jurisdiction of its anti-crime

effort, including crimes committed on territories of different Soviet

republics. Now that they are sovereign nations, the former Soviet republics

have national borders, which, transparent as they are, make legal action

against criminal elements possible only in the context of international

relations and in keeping with international agreements. This, naturally,

complicates the timely launching of operational and investigative actions

aimed at solving criminal cases including those of drug-trafficking.

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