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  • Armenia: Drug Abuse Soars

    ARMENIA: DRUG ABUSE SOARS
    By Mary Aleksanyan

    Institute for War and Peace Reporting
    IWPR No. 561
    Oct 12 2010
    UK

    Authorities say number of intravenous drug users has doubled in last
    two years.

    Drug abuse in Armenia, a link in the chain of countries that transits
    hard drugs from Afghanistan to Europe and Russia, has soared this
    year and threatens to fuel crime and disease.

    Exact details on drug use are not available, but experts say that the
    country has 25,000 to 30,000 drug users of whom 5-7,000 are addicted
    to heroin and opium. That may be lower than in some neighbouring
    countries, but the authorities say that the number of intravenous
    drug users has doubled in the last two years.

    Crimes linked to drug use have risen too. Police solved 1,238 last for
    the whole of last year, and registered 811 in the first six months
    of this year. In the middle of the decade, they would only register
    500 or so such crimes a year.

    "Around 90 per cent of the opium and heroin is produced in Afghanistan,
    and half of these drugs are sent to Russia and Europe through the
    Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey," said Nazaret Mnatsakanyan, head
    of the police's Department of Combating the Illegal Trade in Drugs.

    He said Armenia had only weak controls at the Meghri border post
    on its border with Iran, and that 90-95 per cent of the heroin his
    officers seize comes through it from Afghanistan.

    "An insignificant quantity of drugs comes from Russia and Turkey.

    Marijuana is mainly produced locally, and synthetic drugs are mainly
    brought to the country by air from European countries."

    The country's only dedicated drugs rehabilitation centre has noticed a
    corresponding increase in admissions. In 2009, it had 1,141 registered
    addicts; up from 639 the year before, and just 464 in 2005. In the
    first half of this year alone, the clinic treated 629 people.

    The state pays for treatment if the patient is prepared to be
    registered by name. If someone wants to be treated anonymously,
    they have to pay 140,000 drams (around 385 Us dollars) for a course
    of treatment.

    "During the treatment, internationally accepted methods are used. The
    use of medicines is combined with psychological-social consultations,"
    said Seda Jamalyan, head of the organisational and methodological
    department of the clinic. But she said that the clinic's success rate
    was not high.

    She said that in 2009, only 256 of 1,740 people admitted reached the
    end of the course of treatment.

    "Drug addiction is a serious illness, with chronic changes in
    behaviour. Treatment takes a long time. The will of the patient plays
    a significant role here. Many do not even make it to the end of the
    first stage of the treatment and refuse to be treated further, and
    we cannot keep them here by force," she said.

    The clinic, apart from having to deal with cases of HIV-infection,
    is currently struggling to deal with the consequences of a new drug.

    Addicts mix the antidepressant Coaxil and the pain-killer Sedalgin
    with petrol and other substances, and the problem has become so
    serious that the government is considering restricting their sale.

    "The patients arrive in the most serious of conditions, completely
    worn out. It is easier to treat dependence on heroin or cocaine than
    dependence on these drugs," Jamalyan said.

    "There are complications at the place of injection, the wound does
    not heal, gangrene sets in, and we sometimes have to amputate the
    arm. A second complication is blindness."

    Armenia's efforts to control drug use were aided by the European
    Union-funded South Caucasus Anti-Drug Programme which established
    modern practises before it closed in 2009. Under the programme, drug
    use was decriminalised, meaning that users have to agree to undergo
    treatment and pay a fine.

    Mnatsakanyan said some drug users still needed punishment, although
    the programme was designed to encourage treatment.

    "A drug user has two ways open to them: treatment or court
    proceedings. If there is a desire to be treated, then you can be
    freed from serious punishment, be registered and undergo a course of
    treatment. If there is no such desire, then the drug user is a criminal
    who has to appear before a court. I am in favour of tough punishments
    otherwise we are putting the future of the younger generation at risk,"
    he said.

    Karen, 29, is addicted to heroin and agreed to be treated with the
    substitute drug methadone.

    "I tried to give up a few times, but was never treated. I decided,
    I promised to myself, my father, my mother, that I won't do it any
    more, but I could not stop," he said.

    "Giving up is a scary thing. You don't only suffer physically,
    but psychologically you fall apart. You cannot stop this feeling,
    you think you are going mad a bit, you will die if you can't inject
    yourself. This treatment is a better way to go. I'm not suffering
    at the moment, but let's see what happens next. I really want to
    get better. I wouldn't wish drugs on anyone, they turn people into
    animals."

    Mary Aleksanyan is a freelance journalist.




    From: A. Papazian
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