Drug Abuse in Russia

Russia has a major health crisis at hand, with the governments extreme policies on drugs and alcohol, it appears to have streamlined the discussion into a human rights one. Most Russians are still with a conservative view when it comes to recreational drugs and drug abusers. “For the time being, proposals to help drug addicts are in the realm of rhetoric — not politics,” Andrei Zykov has said. The problem is multifaceted and the solutions are not easy ones. While the crisis grows, there are some that are doing everything possible to make a difference for the better. There are also issues and those that exacerbate and enable these problems making the solutions all the more difficult to solve.

Alcohol and drug dependency are extremely important issues that have the potential to significantly harm many individuals. Excessive use of these drugs tend to be more prevalent in Moscow, Russia than elsewhere. Thus, there are many factors of the country that contribute to the main issue of abuse. Russia is number one out of all of the countries in total average alcohol consumption per year. Furthermore, the country takes first place in the highest increasing amount of drug injectors and abusers around the entire world. The number which grows every day consists of approximately 1.8 million addicts. In addition, one in three families in Russia have experienced an addict in their home. According to the World Health Organization, the annual per capita consumption of alcohol by all citizens was about 15.67 liters total. Consequently, the substantial number is nearly double the amount that the experts at some organization consider to be a national crisis. Other countries have recognized that there is a major issue behind Russia's problem. Drug abusers in Moscow, Russia have increased from 7.3 to 8.5 million in the past several years. In addition, this number grows every single day that the issue is further ignored. The extremely large amount of younger adults and teenagers who severely abuse drugs and alcohol are an increasing concern, not only in the country but worldwide. As a result, a majority of the drug users in Russia are only between eighteen and thirty years old. The average consumption among working adults is a full bottle of vodka a day or more, depending on the area that the abusers live in. These facts surrounding the main issue at hand have serious consequences on every factor and all of the citizens surrounding them.

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