14 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| December 2011
Drug policy |
Russia
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
D
rug policy in Russia is a dangerous subject. When I started
researching this topic, I was apprehensive about writing about it,
because so many people who have tried to help have ended up in
prison, beaten in police departments, or accused of drug dealing.
There have been many shocking cases, where drug users or people
trying to protect their rights have been repressed. Some of those
cases became known worldwide, like Irina Teplinskaya (DDN, May, page 20) or Denis
Matveev, a Russian human rights activist who was accused of drug trafficking on a
fabricated case, and sentenced to six years in a high-level security prison.
There are many more cases, which is why there are not too many people ready
to fight for the human rights of drug users. They have practically no rights in
Russia, and drugs have become an easy tool of repression – not just of those who
talk about drug policy, but any activists who provide social critique of the state.
Given police and court corruption, and common use of provocation and planting of
drugs as a mean to increase arrests, anyone can be planted with drugs and the
case would not be even properly investigated.
‘Once I was arrested and beaten at the police station, because they accused
me of drug dealing,’ says Alexander Delphinov, a writer and journalist, who also
works as an activist and social worker with drug users during his free time. ‘I didn’t
have any drugs with me, and didn’t use any. After several hours of mental pressing
and beating they asked me to sign papers, to confess to a crime that I didn't do.
I was very scared, and if they continued any longer I would have signed anything,
even a confession to something I hadn't done, just for it to stop.’
Drug addicts are met with zero tolerance in Russian society. There are no proper
therapies and HIV-positive drug users or those with TB can’t get proper treatment,
because doctors tell them to stop using drugs first. Every day people die of HIV
through drug addiction, and the only detoxification therapy that exists treats the
physical problem but does nothing to address the psychological issues of drug use.
The state authorities admit that 92 per cent of people who go through the state detox
relapse within one year. The government does very little to promote drug
rehabilitation centres, and the internationally accepted opioid substitution treatment
with methadone or buprenorphine is illegal and opposed by the government.
There is only one non-governmental organisation in Russia that tries to make a
difference to drug policy – Andrey Rylkov’s Foundation for Health and Social Justice. I
spent a day with the activists from ARF, helping drug users on the streets of Moscow.
ARF provides users with clean needles, condoms, rapid testing and counselling for HIV
and hepatitis C, drug harm reduction advice and referral to medical institutions.
Such social work is very important, because sometimes it’s the only one way
for drug users to communicate with people outside their criminal environment. ARF
can’t afford offices – they don’t receive any government funding and exist with the
help of private donations and small international grants, providing their guerrilla
outreach services in a city whose mayorate openly opposes any harm reduction
and HIV prevention work with drug users.
Following the group of activists from ARF, I saw their work on the streets from
the inside. Since resources are scarce, there are usually only two people in the
group, going onto the streets every day. Their limited resources mean that they can
Involvement with illegal drugs and drug
users is a high-risk business in Russia,
as Kristina Kashtanova reports
RUSSIAN
ROULETTE
only help a few drug users each day, and they are in constant fear of being arrested
by the police, who would try to get information about places and drug suppliers
from them by any means possible.
‘We can’t publicly distribute syringes. Even though it’s not illegal in Moscow, the
city health department opposes it,’ says Maxim Malishev, ARF social worker. ‘But
we can be accused of propaganda for drugs, if we do it publicly. We don’t have a
drop-in centre, a mobile unit, or any premises, like most programmes in the west
do. All this limits our reach to drug users and scope of services we can provide.’
Maxim was a heroin addict for 15 years, but ARF helped him to stop using drugs
by sending him to drug rehabilitation in the Republic of Tatarstan. Now he helps
people like him, sharing his positive experience and help.
We began outside the Moscow railway underground station, looking for any
groups of people who could be drug users. When I realised that we could be
arrested at any time, even though we were not doing anything illegal, I was worried
but fortunately we did not encounter any police.
Maxim spotted several people, who we helped that day – we offered them HIV tests,
clean syringes, leaflets, and advice on what to do in the case of an overdose. One of
the drug users, aged 34, said, ‘I would like to stop using drugs, because I have serious
health problems. The quality of drugs has become worse, and the prices have risen
dramatically. I was in hospital twice, doing detox therapy, but as soon as I returned to
the same environment I couldn’t fight my psychological addiction.’
‘Several years ago, when I was a drug user, I was caught by police with a small
amount of heroin for personal use,’ says Maxim. ‘When they analysed the
substance, it actually only contained 3 per cent heroin – the other 97 per cent was
harmful infusions. If we had substitution treatment with methadone, it would not
only reduce the amount of HIV transmitted by injections, it would also improve the
quality of life for drug users and make them less criminal. When you have to spend
all the time trying to find money, often by criminal means, to buy the drug, you can’t
even think about giving up the addiction.’
That day I saw many drug users of different social classes. I was surprised that all
of them took the leaflets and listened to everything activists were telling them. It
seemed to me that all of them were willing to quit their addiction, but afterwards Maxim
told me that it was mostly because of the high prices and bad quality of the drugs.