MINSK, 19 October (BelTA) – In January-September the drug-related crime rate in Belarus decreased by 16.2%, Andrei Saladovnikov, the deputy head of the the office for drug control and combating human trafficking of the criminal police at Belarus Interior Ministry, said during a phone Q&A session conducted by the newspaper “7 Days” in BelTA's press center.
“The analysis of the situation shows that the crime rate has been steadily falling in Belarus: by 16.2% in January-September 2017 as compared with the same period of last year. The interior authorities detected more than 4,200 drug-related crime, of them more than 2,000 were associated with sale, closed off 38 channels of drug delivery to Belarus or transit.
In January-September the police seized more than 360kg drugs and 23kg of psychotropic substances, detected three clandestine drug laboratories and 28 premises specially adjusted and equipped for growing narcotic plants.
According to the expert, the incidence of fatal overdose cases has reduced significantly which is an important result of structured work to prevent the use and spread of drug addiction in Belarus. “In 2014 we saw many overdose cases and increased involvement of minors. This year there were fewer than two dozen such cases. No death case due to overdose among adolescents has happened since 2015,” Andrei Saladovnikov said. The situation is much more complicated in the neighboring countries and in the EU. For example, in Estonia the number of fatal overdoses reaches 118-119 per 1 million population.
Andrei Saladovnikov recalled that any drugs are prohibited in Belarus by Decree No. 6. “Kazakhstan is preparing such a decree today. We had the document adopted long ago. And it works. We do not say that we defeated drug addiction. But we have taken a significant step towards this,” he said.
