President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has called on Turkmenistan’s youth to avoid the curse of drug abuse, the daily Neytralnyy Turkmenistan has reported (via BBC monitoring):
As you begin an independent life, you should never forget that drug addiction is the destiny of only those who are slaves of their weakness and who do not have high moral principles. You should be ready at any moment to give a swift blow to this destructive vice. We all have to combine our efforts in the die-hard struggle against this social evil for the sake of the prosperity of our state and the progress of our sacred homeland, sovereign Turkmenistan.
(Turkmenistan lies on one of the major heroin trafficking routes between Afghanistan and Europe.)
Berdymukhamedov failed to mention one of the main reasons not to do drugs: HIV. Because - lucky for the graduates - the virus is not a problem in Turkmenistan. Officially, the country has never registered a single case.
David Trilling is Eurasianet’s managing editor.
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