Turkmenistan's Drug Problem
Turkmenistan's Drug Problem
Efforts to curb illegal drug use and trafficking are failing to tackle this growing problem in Turkmenistan, NBCentralAsia analysts say.
On July 8, a law came into effect tightening up the law banning the possession and use of “nasvay”, a kind of chewing tobacco which is common in Central Asia and is regarded as a mild narcotic. The offence will now be punishable by fines of up to 500 US dollars, with repeat offenders liable to get two years in jail.
But “nasvay” aside, the authorities have much harder drugs to deal with – principally heroin, trafficked across the long and porous border with Afghanistan, the world’s top producer.
The lead agency in Turkmenistan is the State Committee for the Fight Against Drug Addiction and Trafficking, and the government has two major programmes in place to combat the problem.
The authorities had a chance to talk to neighbouring states about collaboration in the war on drugs at a regional meeting of Caspian states in Ashgabat in late June. And to mark international anti-drugs day on June 26, they destroyed more than a ton of illicit narcotics.
Despite all the work that is going on, local analysts say it does not seem to have made a dent in the number of addicts.
“All these events revolve around the organisers, and resemble [short-term] campaigns. Meanwhile, rural and urban people have no idea these things are going on,” said an NBCentralAsia observer from the western Balkan region.
No official statistics on drug use are available, but a health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 32,500 people were listed as addicts at drug clinics around the country last year. The situation, he said, was “terrible”.
Other estimates put the number of addicts much higher, since they may be reluctant to register with the authorities.
Doctors involved in working with drug users say a significant proportion of the population is affected, and the numbers are only likely to rise further.
“The [residential] drug clinics are overcrowded, and there have been where addicts have staged mass breakouts because conditions there are so unbearable,” said one doctor.
Akmaral, an elderly woman in Dasoguz region in the north of the country, has recently buried her 27-year-old son, who was a drug user.
She says many people in Turkmenistan die young these days.
“I often come to the cemetery where my son is buried, and there are many new graves where young people are buried. All of them died because of drugs,” she said.
The rapid growth of drug use is due to a combination of factors, observers say. These include the lack of specialist medical centres, the failure to introduce new treatment methods, and low levels of public awareness about the problem.
Experts in the country make a number of recommendations for tackling the problem effectively.
First, the government should come clean about the scale of the problem, publishing statistics for the first time. That would open the door to assistance from international organisations.
Second, they should introduce tougher laws and penalties. As things stand, dealers and traffickers often get out of jail early under regular prison amnesties. Human rights activists say 90 per cent of those released during the latest amnesty had been convicted of drug offences.
The third measure they propose is to ensure drug users get proper treatment and are then fully reintegrated into society.
As one observer put it, “We need a large range of programmes, otherwise drug abuse will become a national catastrophe."
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
On July 8, a law came into effect tightening up the law banning the possession and use of “nasvay”, a kind of chewing tobacco which is common in Central Asia and is regarded as a mild narcotic. The offence will now be punishable by fines of up to 500 US dollars, with repeat offenders liable to get two years in jail.
But “nasvay” aside, the authorities have much harder drugs to deal with – principally heroin, trafficked across the long and porous border with Afghanistan, the world’s top producer.
The lead agency in Turkmenistan is the State Committee for the Fight Against Drug Addiction and Trafficking, and the government has two major programmes in place to combat the problem.
The authorities had a chance to talk to neighbouring states about collaboration in the war on drugs at a regional meeting of Caspian states in Ashgabat in late June. And to mark international anti-drugs day on June 26, they destroyed more than a ton of illicit narcotics.
Despite all the work that is going on, local analysts say it does not seem to have made a dent in the number of addicts.
“All these events revolve around the organisers, and resemble [short-term] campaigns. Meanwhile, rural and urban people have no idea these things are going on,” said an NBCentralAsia observer from the western Balkan region.
No official statistics on drug use are available, but a health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 32,500 people were listed as addicts at drug clinics around the country last year. The situation, he said, was “terrible”.
Other estimates put the number of addicts much higher, since they may be reluctant to register with the authorities.
Doctors involved in working with drug users say a significant proportion of the population is affected, and the numbers are only likely to rise further.
“The [residential] drug clinics are overcrowded, and there have been where addicts have staged mass breakouts because conditions there are so unbearable,” said one doctor.
Akmaral, an elderly woman in Dasoguz region in the north of the country, has recently buried her 27-year-old son, who was a drug user.
She says many people in Turkmenistan die young these days.
“I often come to the cemetery where my son is buried, and there are many new graves where young people are buried. All of them died because of drugs,” she said.
The rapid growth of drug use is due to a combination of factors, observers say. These include the lack of specialist medical centres, the failure to introduce new treatment methods, and low levels of public awareness about the problem.
Experts in the country make a number of recommendations for tackling the problem effectively.
First, the government should come clean about the scale of the problem, publishing statistics for the first time. That would open the door to assistance from international organisations.
Second, they should introduce tougher laws and penalties. As things stand, dealers and traffickers often get out of jail early under regular prison amnesties. Human rights activists say 90 per cent of those released during the latest amnesty had been convicted of drug offences.
The third measure they propose is to ensure drug users get proper treatment and are then fully reintegrated into society.
As one observer put it, “We need a large range of programmes, otherwise drug abuse will become a national catastrophe."
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
