Combating drug addiction and alcoholism in ChechnyaBy Ruslan Isayev
CHECHNYA – According to official data there are more than two thousand drug addicts in Chechnya, while an equivalent number of people also suffer from alcoholism, PW’s correspondent was informed at Chechnya’s only narcological dispensary, which is located in Grozny.
Chechen drug control officials believe that the last few years of the fight against drug addiction in the republic have been successful ones. Since 2005 there has been a sharp decline in the number of destroyed cannabis and poppy crops in the republic. Even the narcotics police themselves complain that in most cases their work is wasted because drug dealers have retreated into deep underground and because of the price of drugs in Chechnya has spiked several times in comparison with other regions.
All this is a result of a program introduced in Chechnya to combat the spread of drug and alcohol abuse. The programme is scheduled to run until 2009, and 30 million roubles have been allocated for its implementation. In addition, a new building of the detoxification clinic will open in Chechnya before the end of this year. It will have a capacity of 100 inpatient beds, employing a staff of more than 400.
The republic’s chief narcologist Musa Dalsayev, who is director of the dispensary, says he is confident that while there have been major achievements in the fight against drug abuse, this should not divert attention away from the problem of alcoholism, which in his view presents the most significant current threat to Chechnya today.
However, Professor Dalsayev believes that it will be easier for Chechens to correct this situation than it might be for others, as the rules of Chechen national and traditional Muslim custom stipulate that young people should not drink or smoke in the presence of their elders. "So any initiatives in the fight against drug and alcohol abuse in the community meet with approval and the people’s sincere desire to solve the problem," Dalsayev says.
Nevertheless, as they ratchet up the fight against drug addiction and alcoholism, the authorities also make a profit from the sale of alcohol. In Chechnya it is virtually impossible to buy vodka except at the local sales outlets of the "Naursky Wine and Cognac Plant”, which are sprouting throughout the whole republic like mushrooms after rain.
While on the one hand the Chechen government compares alcohol abusers to "Wahhabites", on the other it receives a substantial boost to the local coffers from the sale of locally produced wine and spirits. The logic is simple – drinking cannot be prohibited, especially in a republic that is part of Russia, so let the money at least go to the local budget and not to the traders who import alcohol into Chechnya from other republics.
(D/T) RELATED ARTICLES:
· The fight against drink-driving continues in Chechnya (PW, 3.5.2007)
· Drug users make up three percent of Chechen population (PW, 13.4.2004)
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