Plan to send Russian drug addicts to labor camps slammed by experts
Despite having some of the world's most stringent anti-narcotics legislation, Russia is home to more than eight million drug users
The Moscow Times (Russia)
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Russia's Federal Drug Control Service's proposal to revive Soviet-era work camps in order to treat drug addicts was met with skepticism by leading health researchers and activists, who said that the state's insistence in linking addiction with criminality perpetuates inefficient drug control practices. Viktor Ivanov, head of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN), said that 400,000 "ordinary" drug addicts serving prison terms had cost the justice and penitentiary systems more than 500 billion rubles ($10 million) during the last five years.
