Women and Drugs in Tajikistan
Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Tajikistan
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This document is a short report based on the results of a sociological study on the subject of women and drugs. The study was conducted in Tajikistan between February 1st and May 1st, 2000, by a research group headed by Tatiana Bozrikova, holder of a candidate’s degree in philosophy. Financial support was provided by the Open Society Institute Assistance Fund in Tajikistan (OSIAF-Tajikistan).

The empirical material in the study was gathered from the following sources:

  1. WOMEN AND THE PROBLEM OF DRUG ABUSE/ADDICTION IN TAJIKISTAN

The Problem of Drug Abuse/Addiction

Due to a variety of special circumstances Tajikistan has become one of the primary transfer points for the flow of drugs. These circumstances include civil war, a dramatic deterioration in the socio-economic situation of most population groups, proximity to Afghanistan and Pakistan, transparent borders, a lack of clearly-defined customs regulations, law enforcement agencies’ inexperience in combating the drug mafia and drug abuse/addiction as well as underfunding and lack of resources on the part of law enforcement agencies, among other issues. As drugs are transported through Tajikistan, some portion of them remains there and is dispersed throughout the country.

It is difficult for any country to determine the extent and nature of drug use. In the case of Tajikistan, the lack of an established, effective mechanism for discovering drug addicts and establishing records on them, as well as the lack of legislation regulating drug treatment, make it impossible to determine the precise number of drug users and people suffering from drug addiction. There is a high degree of hidden drug use and addiction due to fear of prosecution or repressive measures by law enforcement bodies.

The number of recorded drug addicts in the country is increasing each year, as indicated by statistical patterns. It is particularly worth noting that in recent years the incidence of drug addiction morbidity has increased sharply vis-à-vis the previous year. In 1996 the growth rate increased over that of 1995 by 14.9%, while in 1999, this figure was 49.6%.

Tajikistan Health Ministry statistical data indicate that the number of people suffering from drug addiction increased from 823 in 1995 to 2703 in 1999. Drug use experts are of the opinion that these numbers should be multiplied by a factor of twenty to get a more or less realistic picture of the degree to which drug abuse and drug addiction have taken hold in the republic. According to norms promulgated by the World Health Organization, on average one in fifty drug addicts are noted in official records. If we take this as a guide, that means that in 1999 there were 135,000 drug addicts in Tajikistan.

Analysis of the indicators based on type of drugs presents an alarming picture of increased growth in the number of heroin addicts; in 1998, 687 heroin addicts received treatment, while in 1999 that figure jumped to 1162. The city of Dushanbe is the area hardest hit in this regard.

In the two years from 1997 to 1999, drug addiction morbidity indicators per ten thousand people in Dushanbe increased by a factor of 6.6, and for heroin addiction, this indicator increased during the same period by a factor of 27. On January 1st, 2000, heroin addicts accounted for 67% of all recorded drug addicts. We see these proportions continuing to change, with an increasing number of heroin users.

Drug addiction among women is a comparatively new phenomenon in Tajikistan, but one which is now on the rise. According to official data, from 1997 to 1999 the number of women registered at the Republic Drug Treatment Hospital increased from 19 to 55. Thus, in 1999, women made up 3.2% of the total number of drug addicts in Dushanbe. It is worth noting that among drug addicts, the proportion of women receiving a first-time diagnosis of drug addiction has increased each year during this period (from 4 women to 25). Between 1997 and 1999 the number of women receiving a diagnosis of drug addiction for the first time in their lives increased by a factor of 6.3 and in 1999 equaled 3.5%.

Results of a public opinion poll reveal that the vast majority of those polled (75.5%) acknowledge that there is a drug addiction problem in the country, and that it is severe. Another 13% of respondents feel that this problem does indeed exist, although it is not severe. At the same time, more than two per cent of those polled completely deny that there is such a problem, and 9% are undecided. If we break down responses according to views on the severity and the extent of the problem, 11% deny that there is a problem or are undecided, a figure which gives cause for concern about the degree of public awareness.

Interestingly, the responses of the experts and the woman inmates reveal a different picture. All 100% of the experts and 90% of the woman inmates are convinced that the problem of drug addiction in Tajikistan is currently quite severe.

The study shows that not only does the problem of drug addiction occupy a position of enormous importance in the public consciousness, but also that the vast majority of people see the spread of drugs through the country as a matter with disastrous repercussions for the entire people and the nation.

A clearer picture, reflecting the level of Tajikistanis’ public awareness of the social menace associated with this problem, is provided by an analysis of the answers to the question: "How dangerous are drug addiction and drug trafficking for Tajikistan now and in the future?" The study showed that an absolute majority of women (79.4%) and men (81.7%) see the greatest danger posed by drugs as having to do with a possible increase in crime. According to those polled, drugs also pose a great danger, i.e., an increase in mortality (71.4% of women and 69.8% of men). The public is aware that drug addiction has a pernicious effect, destroying the moral foundations of society and causing the country’s reputation in the international community to drop. At the same time, however, the public is not sufficiently aware of the danger drug addiction poses in respect to a general nationwide decline or degradation in mental and physical health and public standards (almost half of those polled, both women and men).

The poll revealed that public awareness of the dangers posed by drug addiction and drug trafficking depends on the educational and socio-professional status of the respondents (including women). The higher the respondents’ educational level and socio-professional status, the greater their awareness of the dangers the proliferation of drugs poses to the country now and in the future. However, those polled were more in accord, regardless of educational and socio-professional differences, in their assessments of how drug addiction and drug trafficking affect the spread of crime.

Responses regarding how easy it is to get hold of drugs in Tajikistan testify to the availability of drugs. As expected, 34% of the women in the general sample (and 38.6% of the men) and 46% of woman inmates feel that it is not very difficult to obtain drugs in the country, and according to 25.5% of the women (and 35.3% of the men), they are very easy to obtain. Among woman inmates, an even larger number holds this opinion, 52.7%. Thus, around 60% of the women in the general sample and 98.7% of the woman inmates state that it is indeed quite an easy matter to obtain drugs in Tajikistan.

According to expert opinion, the primary reason for the increase in drug addiction is that heroin is easily obtainable and inexpensive on the domestic market. According to these sources, heroin is less expensive than vodka.

Involvement in Drugs by Various Population Groups

In the course of the study, an attempt was made to determine the extent to which members of various demographic groups are involved in drug use. Specifically, the question was asked, "Have you ever had occasion to try drugs?" 93.6% of those polled responded that they had never had occasion to try drugs. 4.3% had tried drugs once (0.4% of women and 10.1% of men). Another 1.6% had tried drugs several times, while 0.6% do so when they have the opportunity, or on a regular basis. Thus, 6.5% of those polled were involved in drug use in one way or another.

As factors motivating them to use drugs 54. 6% of the respondents mentioned curiosity (50% of women and 54.9% of men), 12.4% a desire to be like everyone else (16.7% of women and 12.1% of men) and 8.2% mentioned the desire to forget and the desire to escape their troubles and life problems (16.7% of women and 7.7% of men). For women, such factors as the desire to forget their troubles and life problems and the desire to be like everyone else are among the most important motivations, while for men curiosity and idleness are the leading reasons.

In analyzing these data, it must be kept in mind that in spite of the anonymous nature of the poll, some of the respondents nonetheless could not bring themselves to make an open admission and were not always honest as to their involvement in drug use. It is therefore necessary to take into consideration a corrective coefficient.

In order to get a fuller picture of the extent to which people are involved in drugs, respondents were asked, "Are there people close to you or people whom you know who use drugs?" 2.7% of the women in the main sample and 20% of the woman inmates acknowledged that there were many drug users among their close friends, relatives and acquaintances. 16.3% of women from the main sample stated that there were drug users among the people close to them and their acquaintances, but not many.

Analysis shows that the largest number of those who personally know drug users are to be found among the unemployed (31.1%) and students (31.9%). If we take into account the fact that young people constitute the largest subgroup among the unemployed, these data fill out an alarming picture of the proliferation of drug addiction throughout Tajikistan as a whole, and of the acute situation among young people in particular. The picture is no more comforting as regards other groups. One third (33.4%) of people working in the "power structures" [Translator’s note: The term "power structures" refers to government bodies engaging in law enforcement, surveillance and military activities] number drug addicts among their personal acquaintances, as do about 30% of professionals in various fields, industrial workers, people employed in the transport and communications sectors and office workers. People from all social and professional groups, from retirees and housewives to engineers and technical workers, number drug users among their close friends, relatives or acquaintances.

Public Opinion Regarding Drug Users

What are the public’s attitudes toward drug users? On the whole, women are more favorably disposed toward drug addicts than men. 40% of women (and among woman inmates, 83.3%) feel that they should receive medical treatment. Over 14% of the women in the main sample and 6.7% of the woman inmates noted that they felt sorry for people who use drugs (while for men this figure was only 9.3%). 3.8% of women and 7.1% of men in the main sample expressed indifference. 19% of women and 16.7% of men (and 4% of woman inmates) condemn such people, and 8.9% of women and 9.9% of men suggest isolating them from society. 11.6% of the women and 13.1% of the men (as well as 2% of the woman inmates) stated that they should be held responsible for their actions within the framework of the criminal justice system. No significant differences in the respondents’ answers based on age, education and socio-professional level were noted.

A Socio-Demographic Portrait of Drug Addiction Patients

Analysis of medical histories from the Republic Drug Treatment Hospital confirmed that men are represented in greater numbers among drug addiction patients. The age categories represented in greatest numbers were the 25 to 29 group (31.8%), the 30 to 34 group (27.3%) and those between 20 and 24 (21%). Then came people between 35 and 44 (13.6%), 45-54 (1.3%) 15-17 (1.0%) below 14 (0.3%) and above 55 (0.1%). Thus, people between 20 and 34 accounted for 80.1%.

At the same time, the survey data reveals that woman drug addicts are generally younger. Among men, those under 24 years old constitute 23% of the group, according to the following breakdown: 18-19 years, 2.6%, 20-24 years, 19.1%, while women in the same below-24 age group represent 36.6%, according to the following breakdown: 18-19 years old – 7.2%, 20-24 years old – 28.1%.

Most patients (57.7%) were unemployed at the time when they checked into the hospital. 16.1% worked in industrial enterprises, transportation, etc. 5.9% were professionals who had had higher education, 4.9% were street/market vendors or salesclerks. In 4.4% of the cases, the patients were office workers, and in 2.4% of cases, housewives. Identical numbers, 2.1% in both cases, were students and agricultural workers. Scientists, scholars and people from the literary and arts communities constituted 0.3%, and others, 4%.

A substantial number of the unemployed, 27.4%, had not had a job in over two years. (In 56.1% of cases the source information contained no indication as to the length of time the subjects had been jobless.) Statistical analysis of the data indicates that gender is correlated with a number of variables. For example, there were no rural residents among woman drug addicts, while 5.1% of the men were from rural areas.

Another trend noted was an emerging shift of drug addiction from the capital city to other regions of the country: while up until 1996 virtually all patients were residents of Dushanbe, in 1999 this number dropped to 82.5% of the total number of drug addicts.

How Drugs are Consumed; Distinguishing Features

As this study shows, heroin is the most widely used drug (60.3%), followed by opium, (10.7%) and hashish (3.9%). In 10.7% of cases, two or more types of drugs were used at the same time, for example heroin and hashish. The type of drug used depends on the year when the patient was registered. Thus, up until 1997 there were no cases of heroin addiction among the medical cases analyzed in this study, but in a period of three years the relative numbers of addicts using various types of drugs changed significantly, showing an increase in heroin users, such that in 1997 heroin addiction constituted 26.9% of all cases studied, and in 2000, 93.9%.

Another factor affecting drug choice is the patient’s age. The lower the age category, the greater the frequency of heroin use. In the below-eighteen age category, heroin was used by 100% of the patients studied, in the 18-19 category, it was used by 80% of the patients, by 67.8% in the 25-29 category, and so on, diminishing to 33.3% in the 45-54 age group.

The type of drug has a certain impact on the method of use: hashish was smoked in 100% of cases, heroin was smoked in 45.5% of the cases and taken intravenously in 16.3% of the cases, and in 25.3% of cases a shift was observed from smoking or inhalation to intravenous use. Opium was taken intravenously in 90.9% of the cases. The high frequency with which heroin smokers shifted to intravenous use is particularly worth noting.

On the whole, intravenous use was the most widespread method of drug use, figuring in 35.3% of the cases, followed by smoking, 33.9%, with another 19.1% of patients shifting to intravenous use after they had smoked or inhaled drugs for a certain period of time. The latter type of response relates most often to heroin use.

According to the study results, one distinguishing factor of drug consumption among women is the more frequent choice of the intravenous method--53.9%, as compared with 30.1% among men. Moreover, while 22.3% of the men initially smoked drugs, shifting to injection only later, this figure for women is 7.8%. This fact may indicate that women have a greater tendency to resort to intravenous drug use from their very earliest contact with drugs.

Another issue covered by this study had to do with the primary reasons for a return to drugs post-treatment. Of course, this is a matter that depends to a great extent on subjective factors. Nonetheless, in 71.5% of the cases, the main reason for the relapse, regardless of gender, was described as a strong hankering for drugs. It is interesting that while among men in 10.5% of the cases the relapse was attributed to inflammatory or provocative behavior by the respondent’s associates, only 5.7% of the women gave this as a reason. Family conflicts were given as a reason by women in 8.6% of cases and by men in 15% of cases.

Thus, the most significant reason for post-treatment return to drug use, according to the study, is a hankering or desire for drugs. Once again this refutes the erroneous notion common among drug addicts that the primary way in which drug addiction manifests itself is via physical addiction or dependency, which is associated with withdrawal symptoms such as "the shakes." In fact, the low success rate in treating drug addicts worldwide has to do with psychological addiction, or, in other words, with the desire for drugs, as indicated by the results obtained in this study.

These results also point to the low effectiveness rate of treatment: among 62.8% of repeat drug users, the average length of remission period (the period of abstention from drug use) is one month or less and only 2.3% remain off of drugs for over two years.

 

It should be noted that the average remission time depends to some degree on the age of the patient: remission periods of greater than a year were found only among patients older than twenty-five, while among patients younger than nineteen the average remission period was six months or less.

Furthermore, we noted that among woman drug addicts who returned to drugs after treatment, the average remission period was six months or less and the proportion of remissions lasting one month or less was quite large (75.8%). For men this figure is 60%, while in 2.2% of cases the remission lasted an average of more than three years. In our view, this comparison points to a less favorable prognosis for woman drug addicts than for men.

  1. WOMEN AND THE PROBLEM OF DRUG TRAFFICKING IN TAJIKISTAN

    The Problem of Drug Trafficking

    In 1999 in Tajikistan a decisive war was declared on the illicit sale of narcotic substances. Various departments of the Internal Affairs Ministry, bodies overseen by the Customs Committee and the Committee for the Defense of the National Borders as well as a group of border troops of the Federal Border Service of the Russian Federation confiscated 2565 kilos of narcotic substances, including 709 kilos of heroin. In addition, the "power" ministries discovered 940 cases involving the cultivation of narcotic plant crops, which they then destroyed, and 155 criminal cases were initiated.

    Nonetheless, even if all the sources of the drug threat within the country were to be rooted out, the problem would still be great cause for concern. According to official statistics, 21,000 tons of raw opium were produced in Afghanistan in 1998, and in 1999, that figure was 46,000. This is about 460 tons of heroin. A sizeable portion of this lethal cargo will pass through Tajikistan. Only an insignificant part of this flow is confiscated within the country.

    Drug trafficking and the broad proliferation of narcotic substances lead to steady growth in drug abuse/addiction. What connections does public opinion make between these two problems, and which one of them, drug trafficking or drug abuse/addiction, is the more acute problem in Tajikistan?

    In the social consciousness, these two problems are linked and each occasions the other. And truly, the more widespread drugs become, the more people become addicts, and the more addicts there are, the greater the market for narcotics. More than 60% of the respondents from the main poll feel that both problems are severe in Tajikistan (62.2% of men and 60.7% of women). Only 22.6% of those polled (25.4% of the men and 21.1% of the women) feel that drug trafficking is the more severe problem, and a mere 7.6% of the main poll (6.0% of the men and 8.0% of the women) feel that drug abuse/addiction is more severe. A significant detail: men weight the seriousness of drug trafficking somewhat more heavily, while women, to the contrary, deem drug abuse/ addiction to be the more serious problem. The experts’ assessment was rather unexpected: an absolute majority of them feel that the problem of drug trafficking is more serious (80.0%) while 20.0% of them feel that drug abuse/addiction is the more serious problem.

    One indicator of the seriousness of the drug trafficking problem is the broad extent to which the Tajikistani public is involved in drug trafficking. According to the results of the main sample, 37.5% of those polled state that the public is very broadly involved in drug trafficking in all parts of the country. And in addition, the answers given by men and by women correspond precisely. Another 31% (34.5% of men and 28.7% of women) noted that the public is involved in drug trafficking to a large extent in particular regions of the country, and only 6.3% (6.5% of the men and 6.2% of the women) feel that the degree of involvement is not great, while another 2.1% deny altogether that people in the country are involved in drug trafficking.

    Reasons for Involvement in Drug Trafficking

    The main reason for involvement in drug trafficking given by those polled is the desire and the opportunity to make "big money." Of all those who answered this question, 81.2% (83% of the men and 16.8% of the women) noted that they saw this as the reason that citizens of Tajikistan were getting involved in drug trafficking. 16.8% (15.2% of the men and 17.8% of the women) feel that this is partly the reason and only 2% deny that the desire and the opportunity to make "big money" is a reason why people in the country get involved in the drug trade.

    A second reason cited for involvement in drug trafficking cited by those questioned was unemployment. 28.7% of those polled (26.3% of the men and 30.3% of the women) see unemployment as part of the reason and only 5.2% respondents (6.7% of the men and 4.1% of the women) do not see unemployment as a reason why people get involved in drug trafficking.

    Data from the mass poll regarding how well respondents are informed about the legal consequences of involvement in drug traffic reveals the following picture. 37.7% of those polled (44.9% of the men and 33.0% of the women) are well informed about the legal consequences of involvement in drug traffic, 36.2% are badly informed (35.6% of the men and 36.6% of the women) and 26.1% are completely uninformed (19.5% of the men and 30.4% of the women).

     

     

    Public Attitudes Toward Fellow-Citizens’ Involvement in the Distribution and Transport of Drugs

    Analysis of the data from the main poll makes it unambiguously clear that the public condemns people involved in these activities. 65.9% of those polled (63.6% of the men and 67.4% of the women) categorically condemn people for distributing and shipping drugs. 14.7% (13.5% of the men and 15.6% of the women) feel that difficult economic straits do not justify involvement in drug trafficking. At the same time, 10.9% of those polled (11.7% of the men and 10.5% of the women) feel that such activity is justified when someone cannot feed their children and 4.6% (7.2% of the men and 2.9% of the women) stated that if they were in difficult economic straits, they would engage in it themselves.

    Analysis of the data reveals the following. First of all, although on the whole, public opinion condemns people who distribute and transport drugs, nonetheless more than 15% of those polled justify this activity in one way or another in certain conditions, in this case, by the need to feed one’s children, and also, if one is in difficult economic straits.

    Women’s Involvement in Drug Trafficking

    In recent years women have been getting more and more actively involved in drug trafficking in Tajikistan. Official statistics indicate that whereas in 1993, of those people found to have committed crimes involving drug dealing, 29 were women, in 1998 this number had increased to 114. The number of men committing crimes during this period doubled, while the number of women in the same category quadrupled.

    In 1999 the data on women’s increasing involvement in drug trafficking grew even worse. According to data from the Information Department of the Tajikistan Internal Affairs Ministry regarding criminal cases which were brought to completion, in 1997, 63 women were the objects of criminal prosecution, in 1998, 83 women, and in 1999, 177 women.

    At the time when the research was conducted (in March, 2000) there were 432 woman inmates at Corrective Labor Facility # 3/13 in the city of Khojand. Of this number, 255, or 59%, were women who had been convicted of crimes related to drug dealing.

    The Types of Crimes of which Women are Convicted

    Personal information on the polled inmates shows that 77.3% of the respondents were convicted for transporting drugs, 19.3% for possession and 3.3% for raising plants with narcotic content. 26.1% of the women had received sentences of between one and six years, 23.5% had been sentenced to seven to nine years, 46.3% had received ten to fifteen years and 4% had been sentenced to more than fifteen years. For 10% of the woman inmates this was not their first conviction and of this group 46.7% had previous drug-related convictions.

    Information about methods of transport was revealing. A large number of women (60.6%) had transported drugs inside their body (in their stomach and inside their sexual organs) and 20.8% had carried them on their person. Only 12% had used bags and other luggage for this purpose, and 7.2% of the women had used other methods. Thus, information about transport methods allows us to conclude that women are used by drug dealers largely as "containers" for transporting drugs. The quantities of drugs transported and the transport methods show that for the most part it is the smalltime dealers or delivery people carrying no more than 300-400 grams of heroin who fall into the hands of law enforcement, while the large drug dealers who reap enormous profits remain, as a rule, at large.

    Socio-Demographic Portrait of Woman Inmates

    Demographic information shows that 8.7% of woman inmates are below twenty-four years of age, 33.3% are between twenty-five and thirty-four, and 31.3% are in the 35-44 range. The number of women in the 45-54 group (17.3%) and over 55 (9.3%) is not insignificant.

    Inquiry into the subject of women inmates’ employment prior to incarceration may provide more substantive information on the reasons for women’s involvement in drug trafficking. 16.1% of them were worked in the areas of industry, transportation, communications and service, 22.1% were office workers without specialized education, 17.4% worked as vendors at farmers’ markets, 6% were professionals in various fields (teachers, doctors, engineers, etc.) and only 1.3% were employed in agriculture. The unemployed made up 16.7%, retirees, 4.7% and housewives, 14.1%. The largest numbers of woman inmates among those who had been employed were office workers without specialized education, who generally received meager, merely token salaries, and farmer’s market vendors, the latter being engaged in a type of activity more conducive to various types of illegal actions. A significant number of them were laborers, many of whom, due to various circumstances (such as factory shutdowns and shortages of raw materials, etc.) were listed as employed at their workplaces, but received no salary.

    As to marital status, only 28% of the woman inmates polled were married, 16% were single, never married, 52% were widowed or divorced and 4% were "second" or unofficial, lower-ranking wives in polygamous situations. Over 85% of the women had children. 6.7% of them had children three years old or younger, 6% had children between the ages of four and seven, 16.8% had children between eight and seventeen, 34.9% had children of mixed age, and 20.8% had children over eighteen.

    There is another question having to do with woman inmates, which is worthy of note, and that is, "Were you aware of the punitive measures for involvement in drug trafficking?" The survey data shows that almost one fourth of them knew well what punitive measures awaited someone involved in drug trafficking. An even larger number of woman inmates (38.5%) had a vague notion about punitive measures. Only 27.7% did not know about punitive measures, and 10.1% did not think about this issue at all. Thus, over 60% of the woman inmates polled did know to one degree or another about the punitive measures meted out for involvement in drug trafficking, or had a vague notion of them. This is a fairly high degree of awareness of the consequences which follow on involvement in the distribution, trade and transport of drugs. But at the same time, around 40% nonetheless did not have information about punishments. This circumstance points yet again to the need to expand the work being done to inform the public about the extent of drug trafficking as well as about the punitive measures prescribed for those committing such crimes.

    Reasons Women Get Involved in Drug Trafficking

    What made the woman inmates commit drug trafficking crimes? The absolute majority of them (62.4%) state that the main reason for committing crimes was that they were in dire economic straits and the second reason was the desire to make "big" money (10.1%). Only 4.7% alluded to blackmail and pressure exercised on them by the drug mafia and almost the same number (4%) mentioned debts. Although the desire to make "big" money was quite important, the major reason which made people and especially women commit crimes was nonetheless the dire economic situation in which they found themselves.

    Their responses regarding which categories they assigned themselves to prior to incarceration give a more clearly-defined picture of the economic situation of the woman inmates’ families. Over one third of the woman inmates polled (36%) stated that they had difficulty making ends meet, and that at times they did not even have enough money for food. 38.7% of those polled said that although they had money for food, they could not afford clothing. Only 23.3% of the respondents felt that they had no problem affording food and clothing, although they did not have enough money for more than that, and prior to incarceration only 1.3% of the woman inmates could afford to buy a lot of things. This was that group of respondents who had their own business.

  2. CONCLUSIONS

Analyses of the public opinion research, the poll of woman inmates, the experts’ assessments, official legislative and executive documents, documents from the executive branch, the press, etc., point toward the following conclusions.

In spite of active efforts by the government of Tajikistan (the adoption of a national program of "Integrated Measures Aimed at Combating the Sale of Illegal Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursors, Control of Their Legal Sale, Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation for 1999-2000," a new law "On Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances and Precursors," the creation, with assistance from the UN, of a Drug Control Agency and other measures) the closely linked problems of drug abuse/ addiction and drug trafficking have grown much more severe in recent years.

The experts and most of the participants in the main study and the study of woman inmates were fairly well-informed (although not completely so) as to the spread of drug addiction and drug trafficking in Tajikistan. Only 2.1% of those questioned in the main poll feel that there is no drug abuse/addiction problem in Tajikistan and that the Tajikistani public has practically no involvement in drug trafficking at all. On the whole, public opinion in the country acknowledges with virtual unanimity that the problems of drug abuse, drug addiction and illegal sale, distribution and transport of drugs exist and are fairly serious.

Public opinion condemns participation in distribution and transport of drugs. Over 80% of the participants in the study either categorically condemn people for the distribution and transport of drugs or do not justify these activities even when the people involved are in dire economic straits. At the same time, it must be taken into account that about 11% of the respondents in the mass poll feel that this activity is justified when one cannot feed one’s children, and 4.6% expressed a readiness to get involved in drug trafficking themselves if they were in dire material straits. Based on these data, it is possible to conclude that the ranks of potential distributors and transporters of drugs are not yet exhausted.

The public is quite aware of the possible social consequences of these phenomena for the healthy functioning of society. What prevails is not an individualistic concern for the lives of particular drug addicts, but a mindset characterized by a community-minded, mass concern over the consequences of the spread of drugs, drug abuse and addiction and drug trafficking in the republic as a devastating choice for the country, fraught with the potential to damage its genetic stock. However, study results show that this concern is not matched by the necessary resources, funding and appropriate modes of action, since government agencies and the mass media are doing a feeble job of mobilizing the public to identify drug abuse/addiction and drug trafficking as the very dangerous social viruses that they are, and combat them as such.

The study participants cite dire economic straits and unemployment as the main reasons that people get involved in distributing and shipping drugs. They state that the main way to overcome drug addiction and abuse and prevent people from getting involved in drug trafficking would be to radically improve living conditions, and, secondly, to make punishments stiffer. Consequently, in order to root out the causes of involvement in drug trafficking and drug use, more attention must be paid to economic problems, employment must be provided for the able-bodied and the standard of living must be raised.

Women are fairly active distributors and transporters of drugs. 60% of respondents feel that women as well as men are involved in the illegal sale, distribution and transport of drugs on a fairly broad scale. Women are most often used to transport drugs. Analysis of the data from the poll of woman inmates shows that the main reasons for their involvement in drug trafficking are dire economic straits and unemployment.

The time has come to develop new laws to combat the drug mafia which now coming into being. (This drug mafia is not being combated, according to a nearly unanimous opinion.) The Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan is not severe in its handling of the organizers of the drug trade, but rather in the way it handles transporters and those who sell to end users, also known as retail dealers. For the most part, law enforcement agencies manage to detain small drug delivery people and those who sell to end users. There is no mechanism for keeping track of the laundering of "dirty" money and the movement of non-cash funds.

The number of drug addicts is increasing in Tajikistan each year. Drug abuse and addiction are more widespread among men than among women. There is a downward trend in the age of drug users, whose average age is about 24. The number of addicts who are from ethnic groups native to the region is increasing and there is a movement of drug abuse outward from the cities toward the regions. The overwhelming majority of drug addicts are unemployed. There is a clear trend toward an increase in the proportion of drug addicts who use the injection method, which could lead in future to a faster spread of AIDS in Tajikistan. Heroin is becoming the main type of drug used in Tajikistan.

At present the issue of women’s increasing involvement in drug use is becoming more pressing. Women constitute 3.1% of drug addicts. The number of women receiving a first-time diagnosis of drug addiction is getting larger.

The following aspects of drug abuse and addiction among women are worth noting: the younger age of users, the greater percentage of divorced women and widows and of those with higher education, the prevalence of injection as the method of choice in taking drugs and the fact that woman drug addicts are exclusively urban. Length of remission (period of abstention from drug use) after treatment is generally not high, but is particularly low among women and young people. Drugs have a negative impact on women’s reproductive functions: on pregnancy, on the health of the fetus, on the development of offspring, and, consequently, on the next generation.

The problem of combating drug abuse, drug addiction and drug trafficking is multi-faceted and cannot be resolved in the context of one or a few government agencies, or in an individual oblast or city. All government bodies must be gotten involved in this work, as well as all levels of society and political and community organizations. International cooperation must become more active. Research results show that the public has a low opinion of the activities carried out in this sphere by medical and health care institutions, city councils, and religious and international organizations (from 21.6% to 23.1%). The activities of law enforcement bodies (29.7%) are rated somewhat higher. The mass media receive the highest marks for their work (53.6%).

Religious organizations have a not insignificant role to play in forming public opinion regarding the ruinous effects of drug abuse, drug addiction and drug trafficking. However, research results show that religious authorities seem to have distanced themselves from involvement in this most complicated and dangerous problem, which has great repercussions for the future of the nation. Religious organizations received high marks for their work from only 22.0% of the respondents and only 6.7% of the experts.

Medical institutions and health care organizations occupy an important place in prevention and in the treatment of drug addicts. However, there are only 210 hospital beds in the country set aside for drug addicts, and many of them are not equipped for the treatment of drug addicts, since they belong to hospitals and treatment facilities largely involved in other kinds of care and lacking the capability to create the necessary conditions to fully quarantine addicts from other patients. Inadequate funding opportunities are a serious obstacle to the establishment of an effective drug treatment system for addicts. Medications are in desperately short supply. Clinical facilities, equipment and supplies do not meet the necessary requirements.

Preventive activities should be accompanied by an effective system of social rehabilitation. A serious struggle with drug addiction and drug trafficking must begin with the development of a centralized national system to rehabilitate child addicts and [work with] their parents. Without a full-fledged system of social and psychological rehabilitation the very best treatment will not be effective.

Both public opinion and experts are unanimous in their belief that it is impossible to resolve the drug addiction and drug trafficking problem in Tajikistan without effectively cutting off the flow of drugs from Afghanistan. It is perfectly clear that the war against drugs requires effective international cooperation. There needs to be discussion of ways to improve the legislative base for such cooperation as well as practical forms of interaction, specifically to control the transport of drugs through Tajikistan. Tajikistan’s participation in international projects under the aegis of the UN is an indication of serious efforts. This participation could provide the opportunity to more effectively cut off drug transport and delivery routes from Afghanistan.