I. Metshin: “We must know the true scale of the disaster and fight this together”

(KZN.RU, October 9, Anton Nozdrin). In the current year, 86 kg of narcotic drugs, psychotropic, and potent substances were seized in Kazan, which is 35 kg more than in the same period last year. About 50 kg of them are synthetic drugs. Alexey Sokolov, the head of the Administration of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RF for Kazan, reported this on Business Monday today.

He reminded that the function of the Federal Service for control of drug trade has been transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs since 2016. “The work for countering drug trade is not a new direction for the Department of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was at the beginning of anti-drug activities”, said A. Sokolov. According to him, the illegal drug trade is seen by internal affairs not only as a social problem but also as a factor that has a significant impact on the crime situation. During the first nine months of this year, the employees of the department investigated more than 6500 crimes, of which more than 600 were committed by drug addicts and people who are intoxicated.

The head of the department reported that from the beginning of the year, 1423 drug offenses were detected, which is 21% more than last year's figures. Cases on 511 crimes were sent to court, 518 people were brought to criminal responsibility. At the same time, more than half of those brought to criminal responsibility committed crimes between the ages of 18 and 30.

A. Sokolov noted that one of the main levers of crime prevention is the administrative and legal impact. “Since the beginning of the year, more than 1800 administrative violations have been suppressed, including more than 1000 facts of using narcotic drugs without doctor's appointment”, said the head of the department. According to him, the police can bring to administrative responsibility those who do not perform the duties of the court for diagnosis or treatment of drug addiction. Only a quarter of the people from the total number are diagnosed and rehabilitated, the rest are evading.

According to Alexey Sokolov, 31 organizations for the rehabilitation of drug addicts are operating in Kazan. However, a number of problems were identified by the results of inspections of their activities. “Rehabilitation often occurs to be a simple restriction of freedom and the use of rehabilitants as a free labor. In such centers, people who are wanted are hiding, and employees are often formerly convicted persons who were former drug users”, said the head of the department.

The police regularly conduct preventive work of anti-drug orientation: “Podrostok”, “Priton”, “Mak”, “Tell me where they sell death”, “Life without drugs” are held. Particular attention is paid to preventive measures among minors. So, meetings and preventive conversations with teenagers are held on preventive registration, preventive medical examinations take place in schools. Last year more than 10 thousand participants passed such an inspection.

"Inspectors of juvenile affairs pay serious attention to working with families who are in a socially dangerous situation”, said the head of the department. According to him, in the current year, 16 parents are registered, and preventive work is carried out with 45 parents-addicts.

A. Sokolov noted that the preventive component should become one of the priorities in the anti-drug activities. At the same time, the hiding of information on the minors drug use by medical institutions and educational institutions negatively affects the quality of preventive work. Alexey Sokolov said that they should not be afraid to spoil ratings and urged to talk about such facts openly. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, supported him on this issue. “Who cares about these ratings, will the number increase or not. We must clearly know the scale of the disaster, fight this together, and not be afraid that some school will have bad results. When it comes to the health of our children and their future, there is no place for the ratings”, marked the Mayor.

Ilsur Metshin noted that the transfer of full responsibility to the Administration of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RF for Kazan was organized and painless for the cause. “The number of crimes detected increased. This shows the professionalism of the team, which is fighting this evil”, said the head of the city. According to him, every citizen must participate in this fight. “The identification of drug trade points and persons who use them should become a common thing for each of us”, summed up the Mayor of Kazan.