Women and Drugs in Tajikistan, pg. 2
Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Tajikistan
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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.

1. 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.

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Posted February 20, 2001 © Eurasianet
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