Speech by Mr George Zazulin PH.D in Law,

Regional Director ECAD (European Cities Against Drugs)
At The ECAD Lord Mayor's Conference In Iceland May 25th, 2002.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

Liberal spiral in Russian drug policy

A twelve year period

RUSSIA as an open society already has her own experiences in the fight against drugs. From the time of the Soviet Union up to Putin, mistakes have been made but also correct steps have been taken ...

At the end of 1990 a fatal mistake was made. A wrong political decision was taken, at the highest governmental level regarding drug policy (namely placing the right to consume drugs on an equality with the human rights).

On October 25, 1990 the Soviet Committee of the Constitutional Supervision submitted a Conclusion, according to which the compulsory treatment for drug addicts was essentially limited, and drugs use was equated with a human right, and consequently a person's individual concern.

Subsequently the decriminalization legislation excluded from the active normative documents any legal responsibility for consumption of illegal drugs and drug intoxication. The critical point is clear only to criminologists. There are in fact administrative liabilities for heavy alcoholic intoxication in public places. But nobody listened to the experts.

This is not conducive to a safe society. In the country as a whole there have been mounting crises, economic shocks, etcetera. As a result the drug political situation was like a fire that nobody could stop.

On January, 2001 the number of registered drug addicts was more than 269 thousand persons, that is 9 times more than in 1990. Scientific research shows, however, that no less than 2. 5 million Russians were involved in drug addiction. That is 1.7 % of the country's population. Drug addiction is rapidly increasing among our youth. The overwhelming majority are under 30 years old. The number of crimes connected to illegal drugs trafficking increased were15 higher over the past decade. Young and unemployed are the largest group involved in criminal activities.

These figures explain why we have an AIDS epidemic. In the end, the authorities could no longer turn a blind eye to the fact that the country was going down the drug drain. The first cautious step to correct the past mistakes was taken in 1998, when a New Federal Law was passed. One clause of The Law prohibited non-medical use of drugs. Another law forbade drug propaganda in the MASS-MEDIA.

In this way the legislation had taken the first steps in the 'new' old direction, in the direction of the UN Conventions on drugs. First in July this year the new Russian drug law will come into force. It provides a penalty of 15 days arrest for consumption of illegal drugs. The Last time that this law existed was in October 25, 1990.

But from July this year, the twelve-year period of liberal drug policy will be ended. The consequences of past mistakes are however awful. For sure, Russia will get over them in time. But there must not be any more wrong decisions. We cannot afford the scale of trouble they have caused.

What should we do to avoid the same mistakes in 10 years time, or in 100 years time? What should we do to avoid going through the same disaster twice?

AIMS

The tactics remain as before:

We do realize that Russia has not overcome all of its crises, is economically weak, police salaries are extremely low and so on.

Therefore we cannot expect fast results from the new Administrative Code. But it is quite certain, however, that the twelve year liberal spiral on drug policy is now over.

In time, Russian drug policy will become truly restrictive in adherence to UN International Conventions on Drugs.

Thank you for your attention.

Mr George Zazulin

Ph.D in Law,
Regional Director,
St Petersburg, Russia.