FSKN: Russian drug addicts annually spend 1.5 trillion rubles on their drugs
MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - Annual spending by Russian drug addicts exceed budgets of the ministries of education and defense altogether, Federal Drug Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov said.
"According to our estimates, Russian drug users buy 4.5 billion rubles-worth of drugs a day. This means addicts spend almost 1.5 trillion rubles a year. In fact, this is 250% larger than the budget of the Education Ministry and 50% larger than the budget of the Defense Ministry," Ivanov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.
"They are taking this money from the economically active population," he emphasized.
According to official Federal Drug Control Service statistics, 1.5 million out of 8 million Russian drug addicts use Afghan heroin. Drugs kill up to 70,000 young Russians each year.