RUSSIA: MOSCOW: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DRUG CONTROL OPENS скачать в хорошем качестве

RUSSIA: MOSCOW: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DRUG CONTROL OPENS

(16 Apr 1997) English/Nat Drug enforcement officials from across the globe gathered in Moscow Wednesday for the opening of the International Conference on Drug Control. The U-N Drug Control Programme - which sponsors the two-day conference - hopes to develop a co-ordinated anti-drug strategy for the former Soviet republics. The problem of drug trafficking has been growing since the break-up of the Soviet Union and the rise of drug syndicates feeding off Russia's shaky free-market economy. Russia has become one of the world's biggest illegal narcotic markets. Drug trafficking through the vast nation increased five-fold since the break-up of the Soviet Union. And officials are having a hard time stopping traffickers from growing and sending the drugs to Europe and North America. Border controls in the southern republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States aren't as tight as officials had hoped, making it easier for smugglers to get their goods out by train to eastern Europe. Tajikistan and Afghanistan are now two of the major producers of heroin and opium in the world. The head of the U-N drug enforcement agency Wednesday said the situation had reached a critical level. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It is already a crisis situation if you look at the millions of people that are addicts and suffer with their families, the impact on society in terms of pollution, illegal economy through the injection of such huge amounts of dirty money laundering in the system." SUPER CAPTION: Giorgio Giacomelli, U-N under-secretary for Drug Enforcement There has been a dramatic rise in the number of drug addicts in Russia - a surge which is mirrored by a rise in the number of people with H-I-V or full-blown Aids. Last year, there were nearly 25-hundred H-I-V positive cases in Russia - that's seven and a half times more than in 1995. Although there are drug rehabilitation programmes in Russia, they're primitive and not adequate to cater for the growing number of users. Officials say the problem is so bad that drug syndicates are well on their way to influencing democratic developments within the country. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Russia is becoming more and more a transit route for drug traffickers from South to West to the North. That's why we want to attract the attention of states participating in this conference to this important and dangerous issue." SUPER CAPTION: Vasily Sidorov, Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Russia's drug police can't afford to fight the traffickers - and officials have asked the international community for more cash to help them battle the smuggling. In the meantime, Russian drug traffickers are getting a large slice of the world market, while only just starting to reap the benefits of the largely untapped Russian market. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...