Record drugs expected in Afghanistan in 2014 - Federal Drug Control Service
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - A record volume of drugs is expected to be produced in Afghanistan in 2014, Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Chief Victor Ivanov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.
"This year we expect a record harvest of drug production. We expect it to be equivalent to about 700-800 tonnes. The area of opium poppy production grew in Afghanistan in three years 50% to 250,000 hectares," Ivanov said.
In the past ten years the drug control service held over one million people criminally liable who were involved in drug trafficking, Ivanov said. "At that, 52,000 gangs were eliminated," he said.
According to the information of the FSKN, Russia has 8 million drug addicts and 1.5 million of them use Afghani heroin. Up to 70,000 people die of drugs in Russia every year.