I’ll try to convey in my own words and experience what you don’t yet see or don’t want to understand for yourself.
I often see praise or simply a “hot” discussion about who smoked what, smoking and other similar dialogues, monologues, slogans, etc., etc.
It becomes annoying that each “broadcaster” cannot replay a small piece of his life.... with colors, sounds, sensations. Perhaps then you could feel the difference.
I'll try to write it simply (without embellishment). No, not in order to evoke pity, compassion or condemnation.... In order for at least one to think... and that’s good.

Summer, I'm 21 years old.
The end of Perestroika....
Streams of “plan”, hashish” and all sorts of “related” goods of varying degrees of complexity poured into Moscow. Drinking vodka has become unfashionable... because it’s a “bull high”. It’s fashionable to smoke plan or snort coke (for the wealthy), gerych (middle class), evaporated ketamine (teenagers, low-income people).
The effects were varied, I tried everything, but I started with a plan.

It is a lie that the plan itself involves a transition to a new stage of use, that is, to stronger substances.
No, a plan is a plan. But there is a special environment of communication where people (your own people, not strangers, you won’t feel wary or dangerous) always appear (THIS IS A RULE!) offering stronger drugs....
At first it’s free and of course just “sniff”.
You can refuse for a long time, hitting yourself in the chest with your heel, saying that you are not like that and only a PLAN, nothing more. Sooner or later you will become a NORMAL drug addict... you may not believe me, but I went through all this myself and not alone, but with a bunch of friends, comrades and acquaintances.

First experience:
We were sitting at work with friends. As always, they smoked.
A couple more people came and brought heroin.
The name itself was a curiosity for us; we had only heard it in “non-Russian” cinema before. I would even say there was a certain touch of romance over all this....
No one refused, because we just decided to try, we are not some kind of drug addicts, we are just a planner and that... only on occasion.
Then there were the “paths”, first impressions:
A blow to the brain, lightness, pleasant languor and, I would say, loss of conscience. That is, all the “brakes” are released, absolutely all the problems of this reality go away... No “glitches” or “flights”.
Then - insurmountable nausea and vomiting.
Vomiting "further than visible." After this process it becomes easy and good again... The effect lasted for about 40 minutes or a couple of hours.

Development:
Summer, I'm 22 years old.
I have become very comfortable among users.
We chip in money, borrow time, pawn gold and things to raise enough money for a couple of “balls”
(heroin was sold in balls - a small package of polyethylene in the form of a ball), we go to the "Banana" Institute of Peoples' Friendship on Patrice Lumumba Street.
Heroin was then sold by blacks.
There - one goes to get the goods and the waiting begins

Purchase:
In the park, near the institute, groups of blacks, usually hucksters, constantly hang out.
They hold the balls in their mouths (sometimes, when there was no money at all, we simply knocked out their teeth along with the balls).
You give money, and he spits “balls” onto the asphalt.
You pick it up, wipe off the drool and, immensely satisfied, stomp to yours... - “the day was a success”

Injection:
Spring, I'm 23 years old.
The company is not decreasing, but the dose is increasing.
Soon the obtained buzz ceases to “insert” such a crowd of people who want it.
For now, petty lies begin among themselves, ratting (for those who grew up in street teams, there is no need to explain what it is when you start lying to your own people and clamping down, getting high).
A person appears in the company who explains that if you “get hit” (inject yourself), then this ball will be enough not only for us, but also for half of China!!!
Fear... desire for a buzz... craving... and so we line up to see the “pricker” - we wouldn’t even prick an elephant ourselves.
Arrival.... the sensations are 100 times stronger than from “just smelling”
Yes, they are truly indescribable.

Development:
Winter, I'm still 23 years old.
I'm already on the needle.
I “jumped off” several times when the “kumara” started.
This is when nasty sticky, transparent snot is constantly flowing, tears are pouring in a hail, your throat is sore, you don’t want to eat anything, you have hydrophobia, you can’t sleep, although you really want to, and nothing is interesting...
That is, you cannot occupy yourself with ABSOLUTELY anything. Vacuum! Only one single thought drills into the brain:
“I'll hit you!!! And all this will pass!!! Instantly!!! And it will be very good and everything will grow together!!!”
You just need to find money:
Borrow... no one gives anymore,
pawn something in the pawnshop... everything is pawned and so,
“fall on the tail” of wealthier comrades... but THERE are no comrades.
There are only parasites and sponsors, as well as intermediaries (the same parasites), and sponsors can only help out a couple of times.
And now you’re lying on the bed, unable to do anything, because you have no strength or even desire. You pray for the phone, which might take pity and ring...
...They will tell you: “Come up - everything is there!”
But this happens extremely rarely - it can take several days.
Then, after three days, he lets you go.
You can move around relatively well and even have the opportunity to make money!
And you again become a “welcome” guest, where just two days ago you were sent to XXX!
They look into your eyes devotedly, they are interested in your well-being, although no one gives a damn about you and your fucking well-being.
But drug addicts need at least the illusion of compassion, humanity and everything that they themselves have lost, behind the high.

Summer, I'm 24 years old.
I turned yellow. Lost appetite.
All the food you eat flies out of you instantly and from everywhere.
Out of little need you walk in the color of a good chifir.
I want to sleep.
Hospital. Diagnosis of hepatitis C...
The hope is that it does not become chronic, because chronic hepatitis is incurable....
27 days of hospital.
I injected myself right there. Everyone was treated to food. There was more heroin there than I had ever seen in the wild.
Two months after the hospital.
Diagnosis: Chronic hepatitis C.
They say you can live with it if you follow a diet....
I continue to shoot.

Night. The phone rings.
Dimon died.... How?! After all, he didn’t even inject himself, he just snorted...
A trip to Sklif... Doctor....
Dima really didn’t inject heroin, he just snorted it, but he started to develop bronchitis, and heroin, like all opiates, paralyzes the respiratory system (either the centers or the pathways).
He sniffed and after some time fell asleep.
“Friends” tried to wake him up, but he snored and did not wake up.
They put him to bed....
“They choked up” when he didn’t wake up for a day... - breathing stopped in his sleep and irreversible processes began in the brain.
Funeral... Rain, muddy clay. A lot of girls and boys.... Mom, blackened from tears. Brother, he's shaking violently.
Vodka all around. Dimon lies... as if smiling.
A fake quartet of musicians is playing something hysterical....
More than half of the young people who arrived are “smeared”
Mother's cry...
“Freaks, bastards, brutes...it was YOU who killed him...he was not like that...it was you who gave him drugs...”
The musicians play louder...

We arrived from the cemetery....
Seryoga (Dimon's brother) went into his room and returned two minutes later with a bag.
There were 5 grams of heroin (he was already heavily injected).
He went to the toilet and poured everything into the toilet.... he said that he would not touch this disgusting thing again...
Two days later, he and I went in search of a dose.
Now he is still alive....he is on the system. He has hepatitis C and HIV.

Overdose:
Drank at a birthday party.
There was not enough “sharpness” of sensations. I called the “youngsters” from our area.
As it turns out, the guys just had a lot of fun. Ten minutes later I was at one of their crony huts...
From drunken eyes, it seemed that they wanted to deceive me, and they didn’t include 5 “dots” in my “accordion” (usually a “dot” is one division on an insulin syringe, the syringe itself is the “accordion”).
Taking advantage of the fact that I am older and more “authoritative”, I chose the full “accordion” and immediately “cracked”...
High plus vodka is a terrible mixture...
Eyes began to roll. I asked for help... they “helped” me: they took me by the arms into the next room and laid me down on some trestle bed.
Then I only remember the bathroom... Cold water, blows to the cheeks... vomiting... the cry of the only remaining, true friend. He shouted obscenities, I won’t quote...
It turned out that when they put me in the room, everyone forgot about me. Quite by chance, the landlady came in to pick up something and saw me.
According to the description, I was blue... Lips, nails, blackened eyelids, circles under the eyes... She leaned over to listen... I wasn’t breathing. The hostess ran into the room to the “youngsters” and told...
They offered to take me out and throw me away from the entrance so that, if anything happened, the “garbage” wouldn’t set fire to the house...
But then my friend called - he was looking for me...
This is how my salvation happened. My friend knew how to do artificial respiration and simply pumped me out.
Then I pumped him out the same way a couple of times when he overdosed...
Many people caught them... In hallways, in toilets, often in public ones. We came to our senses, lying there on the floor...
We were not street children or beggars. Many started out as very successful businessmen. There were families. There was work, study, sports...
It all disappeared like dust, and very quickly.

Withdrawal:
It’s summer, I don’t remember how old I am... because I feel bad... not just bad, but f....c.
"Kumara" and "Withdrawal".
This is, if we compare, heaven and earth. That is, the sensations are the same as with kumars, but ten times more concentrated.
White light is not nice. You don't know how to lie down so that it's comfortable. Any body position after four to eight seconds becomes heavy, uncomfortable, and you spin around like a spinning top.
Then a sticky, disgusting cold sweat appears. You cannot wash yourself, since it is not possible to take a vertical position and walk to the bathroom.
Later, pain is added to the sweat, snot, drool, tears and general discomfort...
At first, not a strong, nagging pain in the joints.
Then the pain increases... You can forget about painkillers - they don’t work... Even not every anesthesia will work... Only the dose will save you!
For which at this moment I am ready to sell my own mother, wife and children (I am not lying or embellishing, ask those who have experienced this).
You howl, rolling on the bed or the floor... and it doesn’t last a day or two - it just proceeds in waves, and the whole process of withdrawal after three days flows into kumar, and then only after four to five days does it end completely.
You sleep, at best, two hours and then on the second or third day...
I saw my mother's eyes when she saw me like this...
I can’t describe them... - she aged ten years at once...
Then the ambulance... Injections, IVs... In general, the standard life of a drug addict...
Oaths that are worthless, but you yourself sacredly believe in them and five minutes later you break them. Leaving home... and the Lies that simply permeate your whole life.

You don't trust anyone. You become a shifty, lying brute with no self-respect...

Your company is the same as you...
The girls are unapproachable beauties who once “powdered” their noses, now they are five hundred ruble whores (at best)… or just… for a dose
Boys, almost all of them, have been through a prison or zone, have lost faith in themselves, but continue to live in illusions...
Illusions that you can get out of there yourself...
Yes, some people succeed. I read about this and heard a lot of fairy tales, stories about how someone just gave up and that’s it, but for this you need to at least get off the system...

All feelings are lost...
Love, a sense of duty, all social responsibilities and so on.
That is, you remember that you should love your mother, wife, children, but you can’t... There is no response in your soul... It’s empty there.

Sex.
In the beginning everything is very fine: you can study for hours.
After a couple of months of use, the special need for it seems to disappear, but due to inertia it still happens...
Then the desire disappears, and behind it the opportunity.
In women, the menstrual cycle stops.
In men, serious problems with erection begin, but this is of little concern....

The system is when the drug is used hourly, that is, for example, every five hours... otherwise withdrawal occurs.

A dirty solution is when there is not enough heroin, and the dealer interferes in order to sell the dose and get his own.
They often mix various powders for volume...
... and, God grant, that they are at least safe, because it could be cement (they interfere with weight, but rarely); Diphenhydramine - increases the buzz and doubles the withdrawal symptoms; sugar - increases volume, God forbid, you have diabetes - this is instant death.
There are also a lot of impurities to increase the volume.
When such a “bodyagi” is introduced, you may “shake”.
What it looks like:
First, dry mouth appears.
Then the temperature rises, maybe up to forty.
You start pounding, vomiting appears, your heart is pounding in an exorbitant mode, blood poisoning is possible, then it’s clear...

At the beginning of use, there were 27 of us - guys and girls who constantly communicated and met.
Everyone tried the plan, 23 of them tried heroin.
2 people limited themselves to one-time use or immediately quit.
During the period of use, 9 of my acquaintances and comrades died, aged from 18 to 34 years.
95% of all my acquaintances from that social circle went to prison.
90% suffer from hepatitis.
HIV 50%.
Tried to quit more than once 100%.
We tied 0% (taking into account the period of tying) for at least a year.
This gloomy statistic also takes into account “comrades” acquired later.

NOTHING IS MADE UP, SOME THINGS ARE NOT EVEN DESCRIBED, BECAUSE IT IS DIFFICULT FOR A “SOBE” TO PERCEIVE.

There are many more “delights” of the life of a drug addict, but I beg you, think about it, do you need to check everything on yourself?
Or take my word for it that in this case you are not unique and you do not have immunity, just as several million drug addicts do not.
And just believe me, no one immediately starts injecting heroin into their veins (any sane person will not be able to inject themselves immediately and sober)...
It all starts with a simple “smoke”,.. a fashionable “sniff of coke”,.. Or when drinking beer is not enough, but you want some kind of “harmless” prank.
If, after reading all this, you are still confident that this will definitely not happen to you and you will just smoke a plank and that’s it (Just don’t talk about Byron, please), then God will be your judge.
I will only be glad if my and not only my “experience” turns out to be wrong.

Now:
I've been sober for seven months.
I enjoy every day, every morning... there are only a few of these days left...
Hepatitis, although gentle, is a killer.
And rarely does anyone live with him for longer than 15-18 years.
I've had it for almost ten years. And each time the attacks (spring - autumn) become longer and more severe, and the price of therapy increases and all the time in the U.E...
Just listen to the above and make a decision for yourself for life... Just don’t do half measures, like once a week or once a month.
YES - use, smoke, snort, inject...
NO - raise children, care for, help parents, love loved ones.

The problem of drug addiction in Kazakhstan is acquiring terrifying proportions. Getting out of this vicious circle is difficult, but possible. Former drug addicts told the correspondent about their past - how they went through all the circles of drug hell.

In the village of Razdolnoye, Akmola region, there has been a Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts for 11 years. Over the years of its operation, 681 patients received help here. Currently there are 20 people in the Center - 4 girls and 16 boys.

Here former drug addicts work, communicate, and talk with psychologists. The Center has a vegetable garden, animals, and outbuildings. Patients live here for one year.

“You can imagine that there was a company, and I took a drug to try. It was true, but that doesn’t justify me. I took heroin myself,” says Victor P. from Karaganda, a patient of the Center. – I started taking heroin in my third year at KarSU. I took it for four months, then everything became clear. My family and I sat at the table and had dinner. I reached for the bread. The sleeve slipped down, and the sister saw marks from the needle. She grabbed me by the wrist and began asking what it was. I somehow justified myself. But my parents began to suspect - I always have no money, I constantly spend everything.

One day the relatives understood everything. It was a terrible grief for the parents. They gathered a council, and I myself proposed: I take an academic degree and join the army. I served in Kapchagai for two years, and then for another three years as a contract soldier. For five years I was absolutely “clean”. But he still underestimated the power of heroin. While still on the train, when I was returning home, memories began to come to me. Thoughts are like crows overhead. I couldn't drive them away. I began to revel in the memories of the high, savor them. When I stood on the platform, I was ready to inject myself.

I come home in uniform, with flowers, my mother opens the door, my father hugs me, and I think: “I need to go to the pit and inject myself quickly!” Ate and took heroin. I fell into hell. Vicious circle: drugs and addiction. The doctors will relieve the withdrawal symptoms, I’ll be “clean” for two or three months, and then I’ll inject myself again and off we go.”

Victor looks for the reasons for his addiction in the past.

“Since childhood, I have not been deprived of the love of my parents. Do not think that drug addicts are antisocial from childhood. I have a complete family, I have a sister, they loved us and tried to give us everything, we were raised well. I grew up in the 90s, so my parents did their best to make sure we didn’t go hungry. We children had a lot of free time. We gathered in basements. And from somewhere in my mind the idea took root: “In life you have to try everything.” Now I know how wrong I was.

Alcohol, cigarettes and nasvay became the catalyst for my drug addiction. In a club, a gateway, a basement, or a friend’s apartment, they can offer ecstasy, wheels and some other psychoactive drugs. If you try, it will live in you. I tried the drug and, as they say, I got it. At the initial stage I did not understand the seriousness of this. And if I had known then what I was getting myself into, I say, hand on heart, I wouldn’t even be near drugs. My parents told me, just like your mothers tell you now: “Vitya, this is bad, you can’t take drugs.” And I answered: “I know everything.” But he didn’t know anything!

Now Victor feels good, he has restored his relationship with his parents, and his beloved girl is waiting for him.

“Now my whole gut is against drugs. That’s enough, I’ve screwed myself up,” he says.

But Victor got off “cheaply”. Some people literally went through hell.

The story of Artem S. is shocking. The young blue-eyed guy went through a terrible school of life, and still survived. He was already in two rehabilitation centers - in the Kostanay region and in Russia.

"I am twenty seven years old. I am a former heroin addict with nine years of experience using heroin. But it all started much earlier. I became acquainted with drugs at the age of 12. First I started smoking marijuana. It seemed like pampering. Then a friend suggested heroin. The first time I didn't like him. And then I became interested and took it once or twice a month. Then he didn’t notice when he “got on the dose.” For 9 years I had remissions for six months to a year. And again he broke down. I lost everything because of drugs. I don’t have the respect of my relatives, my loved one, my friends, my goals in life, my favorite job.”

The guy has transverse scars on his arms. Artem told their story.

“I had several suicide attempts. So I tried to manipulate. My parents wouldn't give me money for drugs, and I said I'd cut my hands if I didn't get it. They refused. And then I opened my veins.”

Looking back, Artyom sees only graves.

“During the time that I have been here, four people with whom we injected together have died. Another is in a “vegetable” state after an overdose. I myself have experienced 6 overdoses and 6 clinical deaths. The last one was literally a few weeks before my arrival.

I had remissions thanks to sports. It helps me stay off drugs. Religion is a special help in my life. The first two weeks of my stay at the Center almost ended in failure. When I started asking God for help, I felt better and I stopped thinking about drugs. Every Sunday we go to church."

Recently Artem had a birthday, his mother visited him. The guy is restoring his relationship with his parents.

“I feel so guilty towards her. My mother always warned me against drugs. I was such a fool, I lost so many years of my life, the best years of my youth. Now it will be difficult for me to get an education.”

The Center also works with codependent parents. Are they able to get their child out of drug hell?

“No one will help a drug addict but him,” say local patients themselves. “If you put a hundred psychologists in jail, they won’t be able to do anything.” The tears of a mother, the prayers of a wife, the crying of children will not help. Only myself. Relatives and friends can become motivation, but they themselves will not pull you out of the pit of drug addiction. Drug addicts are lonely people, they are outcasts from society. They need support."

Currently, about 107 people who were previously treated at the Center are in remission. Many of them have started families and are raising children. Sometimes they come here on holidays and talk with psychologists. And each of them hopes that they will never come here as a patient again.

This expression has still not lost its relevance, although it can be heard less and less in everyday life. Much more often it is replaced with the word “prostitute.” But this is not entirely correct, since a fallen woman is not only a priestess of love. Today you will find out to whom this appeal applies and what it means.

There is a difference

In Europe, a fallen woman is a drug addict, an emigrant, a victim of violence. But if we look at Russian history, then this epithet was “awarded” mainly to ladies who were not particularly picky in their choice of sexual partners. Moreover, this could be a woman who had several official marriages. In Soviet times, this was condemned by both the party and the people. A real communist had to marry once and bear this cross all her life, even if the marriage was not very successful. The exception was artists: they could be forgiven for some frivolity in this matter, since creative people differ from the common population.

Bible

The first mention of female harlots in the Old Testament is of an interesting nature. Jacob's daughter traveled through foreign lands and attracted the attention of the son of the prince of Shechem. He dishonored Dina, but later asked the girl’s hand from her father. The brothers of the unfortunate woman reacted sharply and declared that their sister was not a harlot to do this to her. Consent to the marriage was received, but the prince had to make a deal: all men in the city were circumcised.

Jesus Christ said that harlots go ahead of everyone else into the Kingdom of God. Another fallen woman is Tamar. A girl who sold her services for a kid. Rembrandt even captured this scene in a painting. It is known that ancient Israelite society even protected harlots, but church ministers were forbidden to take them as wives.

Walking woman

As a rule, this is a lady who is not married and regularly changes men. She is free from obligations and not burdened with moral values. Can we call her a fallen woman? It depends on the society in which the person moves. If she is at the bottom of the social strata, then such an expression may be applicable. But no one would dare call a pop star or a famous actress that way. Although there is no particular difference in behavior between them, the colossal gap in terms of social status changes everything. A walking woman can be either a legal spouse or the mother of a large family. It all depends on the character and upbringing of the woman.

You don't have to be a prostitute to get such an offensive nickname. Girls who grew up in dysfunctional families often have a weak concept of morality. Such scenes took place before their eyes that by the time they mature, they do not consider it necessary to look for a permanent partner. They don’t take money for their services; they simply give their bodies to anyone who shows interest.

The result of such a life is a harmful addiction to alcohol or drug addiction. Then from a simple frivolous person the girl turns into a full-fledged prostitute. She is ready to trade her body for a dose or a bottle, but now this is considered work, and not a means of obtaining pleasure. There are plenty of such people among the marginalized: in any den there will be such a fallen woman, providing her intimate services in exchange for the necessary drug.

Escorts

These ladies can also be called fallen, but they stand at the highest level. They also sell their bodies, but not to dealers or the working class, but to the wealthiest men. Moreover, there are known cases when such elite prostitutes became the wives of their clients. But still, in most cases, they remain only girls who can accompany you to any event and provide intimate services. Their work is paid very highly, but money cannot wash away the stigma of a fallen woman, which they will carry for the rest of their lives. They are also considered girls with low social responsibility, although they can drive premium class cars.

Prostitutes

Prostitution is the biggest niche in which every woman is considered fallen. Although this is one of the oldest professions, it is still considered the most shameful. Prostitutes are not respected, they have no rights. For their hard and thankless work, they can get a prison sentence. This profession has no age. Both girls 14 years old and women over 60 can be prostitutes.

Why do girls become prostitutes?

It would seem that there are no advantages at all from this method of earning money, and there are more and more fallen women! Selling your body on the street is driven by both need and lack of demand. Often, after graduating from university, girls cannot find work. This is especially true for those who come from small towns and villages. There is no desire to return to the wilderness, and it is very difficult to settle in a metropolis. The girl decides to earn extra money with her own body until she gets a chance to find a real good job. However, few succeed in breaking out of the vicious circle.

For those unlucky enough to fail their exams, the road to prostitution becomes even shorter. They remain in a strange city in the hope of trying their luck in a year. Without a profession or means of livelihood, girls are forced to go to the panel.

Need and more

An ordinary average mother of several children can also become a fallen woman. An unemployed husband, lack of help from relatives and many other factors can push one to take this desperate step. Sometimes such ladies have official jobs, and at night they work as prostitutes. Relatives and friends may not even know about her additional income.

Some people are attracted to this type of income. Girls think this is the easiest way to get rich. But the real picture is not nearly as colorful as inexperienced debutantes paint it. A pimp and the police, problems with the law and health, lack of personal life - this is not the whole list of what awaits a fallen woman.

We have already explained why girls with addictions become prostitutes. But very often ladies acquire addictions already in the process of work, in order to look at life easier and more easily endure moral torment. Then the life of a prostitute becomes like a carousel: searching for a dose, a client, searching for a dose again. The existence of a fallen woman cannot be envied, no matter what level she is at.

Every year in Russia, about 30 thousand people die from drug use, mostly young people
“We have horror. They take me to the cemetery every day. The second wave began in 2005, mainly children and teenagers. How can this be? After all, they saw how an entire generation fell into the ground before their eyes. It's as if the war has passed. They were playing in the sandbox, and next to us we were injecting ourselves and writhing,” says Anton. 10 years ago, through an effort of will, I got off the syringe, stopped being a bandit, came to God and began saving lost souls. He lives in a small Siberian mining town. I asked not to give my name, surname and city: they would kill me.

“There were gangs, crimson jackets, and it was fashionable to inject drugs. We were rotting. Now they are burning. Previously, the consumer went to the drug, now the drug has come to the consumer. The system is debugged,” says Anton, who survived and is saving others from death.

“The risk group is children. Parents drink, children use drugs, there are no prospects, no one needs these people. But their grandfathers and fathers were heroes of labor, honored people. And now they are no longer needed. We somehow survived the 90s, many got back on their feet. But since 2001 there has been a new wave, other drugs that no longer give a chance to survive. A year or two - and a corpse,” continues Anton. “There is no state plan, as if the main thing is for them to sit quietly and die, so that there are no riots.”

As the righteous man said, save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved. Anton's fate led him to the Protestants. In his small town alone, they have already created 10 centers for drug rehabilitation. Their experience is simple and boils down to very simple techniques: work, faith and the shoulder of a comrade save. Money and expensive clinics, replacement medications and conversations with psychologists do not save, but simply postpone punishment.

According to Anton, they have two supply channels in the city. One is held by a native of Tajikistan, the other by a gypsy. Both have several dozen points in each district, their own cars, their own “runners”-deliveries, their own system for ordering doses via SMS. 24 hours a day, seven days a week and no lunch breaks.

“I sent you a message and the goods were delivered to you in half an hour. If the dose is taken by taxi - 300 re, if you stamp your feet - 150 re. You need two doses a day for beginners, three for those who are already hooked.” “Anton and his comrades know by name everyone who carries, trades, distributes and sells.

“A political decision will be made - everything will be liquidated in one day. And now there is no policy towards drug addicts, no effective centers, no treatment methods. Let’s say they bust everyone and drug addicts take to the streets. What should they do with these crowds? And so the authorities think that they at least somehow control the situation and create some kind of balance,” says Anton.

The capital is for the rich

The trouble is in the numbers*

Every day in the country, 82 people die from heroin use, and every year - 30 thousand people.

The average age of drug addicts, according to official statistics, is 29.8 years; the age group of 18-20 years old accounts for 7%. Young people take drugs from the age of 15-17, and already in the first year, 70% increase their doses to three injections per day.

64% of drug addicts tried to get rid of addiction on their own. Only 5% of addicted women and 7% of men were not treated and did not want it.

25% of treated citizens are admitted for treatment again in the same year. 95-97% of drug addicts start taking drugs again in the same year.

Surveys by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) on drug use show that 35% of drug addicts last one week after free treatment, 17% last a month, and only 4% last one to two years. A third of those who received help rate it as unsatisfactory, cruel and humiliating.

At a February hearing on this issue in the State Duma, the director of the Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Ivanov, said that 12 tons of pure heroin enter Russia from Afghanistan every year. His department believes that this is 3 billion single doses of 0.004 grams, but if we count 0.1 grams (as per the law), then the single doses are 120 million. According to the Federal Drug Control Service, the drug mafia receives about $16 billion from the sale of this amount of drugs.

Viktor Ivanov reported that the Federal Drug Control Service seizes 10 kg of heroin every day, that is, about a third of the heroin traffic.

In the 2007 report of the United Nations Committee on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the income of the entire drug industry in Afghanistan was estimated at $3 billion, and the volume of supplies was 6.1 thousand tons in 2006 and 8.2 thousand tons in 2007.

*According to the UN, Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Health and Social Development, VTsIOM

“I give prices for Moscow and St. Petersburg,” dictates Sasha, a young guy who categorically did not want to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, that is, he did not want to try. He hates drugs and wants to exterminate them in the bud. He also asks to change the name: “A gram of hashish in Moscow is 600 rubles, in St. Petersburg - 250. An ecstasy tablet is 600 and 350 rubles. Amphetamine powder is 1200 and 600. 1 gram of cocaine is $120 and about $90, this is enough for one person for the night. A drop of LSD - 700-800 and 450-500. Young people in the capitals do not respect heroin, they are afraid of it and consider it an expensive and unclean drug. There are also mushrooms - everyone who wants to collect them at the end of August and September.”

He believes that most of the poison comes to Moscow from St. Petersburg. The most expensive ones are brought from Europe. There are fewer Asian flows here. Two of his friends are in prison for distribution. “And thank God!” - his comrades exhale in unison, pouring out knowledge of Moscow’s attractive bottom.

“Few young people in Moscow use it every day. So, on weekends, for relaxation, it’s fashionable. It’s not fashionable to judge, that’s the attitude,” say yesterday’s schoolchildren.

According to our interlocutors, the police make money from such “vacationers”. “If they find it on you, then you either bear the amount from 5 thousand to 55 thousand rubles, or go to jail. They might give it up. What parent wouldn't buy it? He doesn’t even know that his son is growing hemp in the closet or cooking something for sale” - that’s what these children know.

The smartest of them guessed that the big industry was casting a net on them. “In that club they play one kind of music - it’s suitable for amphetamines, in this one - another, for ecstasy, in a third - for rich cocaine addicts. Everything is done to control the youth. I dropped in and it was fine. They can mix it with alcohol and treat you with free drinks. If someone dies from an overdose, the club is closed, but it will soon open in another location. The capital's residents are afraid of heroin; they have enough pills. It's fashionable; They collect pills and show off. But fashion is also created for the drug style, everything is thought out for the sake of manipulating people, the guys don’t want to understand this,” says the guy who doesn’t use anything.

They offered him things to smoke and sniff since childhood. Friends, prosperous children from good families, prepared pilaf with “dope.” He was lucky that he was not hungry then: they did not warn him about the contents of the pilaf.

The older brother of one of the guys recalls: “About 15 years ago we were walking with friends, a guy flew up and was shaking all over. The injections, he says, don’t hit the veins. We went to the entrance, I immediately hit his vein. And then the police come in. The drug addict has disappeared, the syringe is lying around with my prints. I lied to them that the guy had diabetes, a crisis, here are the witnesses. If I were alone, they wouldn’t even talk to me, I would have increased the detection rate statistics, or they would have taken the money.”

How many drug addicts do we have?

According to the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, from 1996 to the present, the level of non-medical drug use has increased 20 times, and the number of people under dispensary observation is 538 thousand people.

Every year in Russia drug consumption increases by 20-30%.

The share of Russian heroin addicts is five to eight times higher than the corresponding figure in the European Union countries.

“There are no reliable statistics for our country, because no one counts drug addicts in Russia,” says Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Tatyana Dmitrieva, director of the State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry named after. V.P. Serbian. — The figure of 538 thousand people is underestimated. We believe that it must be multiplied by at least five, and only then will we get closer to some reliable figure.”

The most pessimistic estimates speak of 6 million Russian drug addicts - these are the assumptions of a number of public organizations. In Russia, cases of drug use by ten-year-old children have already been registered: 17,370 children and 122,175 adolescent drug addicts are registered.

According to various estimates, a drug addict gets an average of 15-17 more people hooked on needles every year.

It's not just overdose that kills drug addicts. About 80% of HIV-infected people became infected through a shared needle.

Networks

Who are the lowest echelons of the death merchants? Security officials say that these people are no different in appearance from others.

Most anti-drug activists in Siberia and the west of the country blame Tajiks and Roma for drug distribution. Recently, blacks were tried for bringing a potion from Holland.

Thanks to the media, society is confident that drugs are brought to Russia by planes, trains, trucks with fruits and goods, they are transported by shuttles on themselves, “swallowers” ​​in their stomachs and other craftsmen. These are the ones the security forces catch, these are the stories the public sees on TV.

As a rule, there are no drug dealers among the distributors; drugs are a business for them.

But there is also a gigantic network of distributors who cannot be imprisoned: they are ordinary pharmacy sellers. And there is a huge flow of potion that no one seizes or counts: it is prepared from ordinary medicines.

"Wheel Syrups"

Pharmacological chaos began in the capital several years ago, when state drug control really started working in Moscow and it became a little more difficult to get heroin.

Today, some pharmacies, mostly remote from the center, without particularly hiding, dispense opiate analgesics without a prescription, such as butorphanol tartrate (an opioid analgesic), zaldiar (it contains opiates and is extremely dangerous when administered intravenously, but costs only 500 rubles), Coaxil (tianeptine) is a powerful antidepressant, the abuse of which provokes chemical dependence, imovan (zopiclone) and other drugs.

Control agencies periodically inspect pharmacies. It happens that they discover significant stocks of these drugs and at most 20 prescriptions in two or three years. But pharmacists and pharmacy owners do not face serious liability: in extreme cases, they will be deprived of their license. Some metropolitan pharmacy kiosks, according to the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation (FSKN), make up to $300 thousand per month from butorphanol alone. With such turnover, apparently, the issue with the license can be resolved.

According to pharmacy sales data, the above-mentioned medications are among the most purchased in Russia. Some of them are constantly present in the top ten most popular drugs.

“Verified pharmacies have actually turned into points for the illegal sale of prescription drugs, which are extremely popular among drug addicts,” said the head of Roszdravnadzor, Nikolai Yurgel, last winter.

Drug addicts of all ages call prescription drugs or potions based on them “crocodiles” or “wheel syrup.” The likely consequence of their use for just a few months is gangrene, and as a result, amputation of limbs and death within a year of use. Wheel syrup is more lethal than older drugs.

As drug addicts say, the pills are taken to “chemists” - specialists in preparing drugs from a surrogate. A couple of hours, for example, are enough to evaporate the solution and get a “syrup”. In microdistricts, such “chemists” are usually known throughout the area—a crowd of drug addicts flock to them day and night, and it’s easy to shut down their business. But for some reason no one does this.

In most pharmacies, employees do not risk violating the rules for dispensing drugs included in the “narcotic” lists and lists of psychostimulants, as this entails criminal liability. But barbiturates, sedatives and painkillers are easily sold without prescriptions.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Tatyana Dmitrieva noted that the use of legal medications by drug addicts, for example, cough syrups and tablets, is becoming increasingly popular, and the age of those using such drugs has dropped to 12-13 years.

Is it possible to cure a drug addict?

In Russia, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Development, there are 191 state drug dispensaries, about 2 thousand rooms for the prevention and treatment of drug addiction, and 80 rehabilitation rooms. However, they do not work effectively. Both doctors and their patients say this.

There are private rehabilitation centers. On the website of the Marshak Clinic in Moscow, rates for five-day treatment start at 100 thousand rubles. In order to receive treatment, you have to pay the cost of the apartment, although recovery is not guaranteed.

Psychologists complain that old drug addiction specialists actually still treat drug addiction as “stupidity” that can be gotten rid of if desired. “Don’t inject yourself - that’s all,” they say, not recognizing that the patient’s personal growth is needed, treating support groups for drug addicts as religious sects.

Among private narcologists there are many who find a couple of patients and successfully “milk” them, simply regularly bringing them out of withdrawal symptoms. This is their business on drug addiction. Until recently, psychiatrists used electric shock for therapeutic purposes - some clients lost touch with reality. In expensive clinics they offer everything at prices ranging from $2-3 thousand and above - baths, massages, yoga, spinal cleansing, blood cleansing, special diets, body wraps, sea baths.

There are more than 350 charity centers in the country, mostly organized with the support of religious organizations. Most of them are organized by Protestants. There are also centers created by Orthodox activists.

For example, in the charitable treatment and rehabilitation center “New Life” of Sergei Matevosyan (Leningrad Region), a contract is signed with a new person: he comes here for a year. If relatives can help with money, that’s fine; if they can’t, that’s also fine. A year of not smoking, not drinking, working hard from morning to evening on the farm. Thanks to the fruits of this labor, the center exists and, according to its statistics, more than half of drug addicts are cured for a long time. There is a queue from all over the country to see Matevosyan.

There is an opinion that in the West they provide better and more successful treatment, and that they use methadone, a drug substitute. “We are called to set up centers in America. And here they tell us how good the treatment is there. Yes, there, anyone who plans to set up such a center receives a wave of charitable assistance, state support, preferences in everything. In our country, on the contrary, they will torture you with checks. But we only treat with occupational therapy, a meager diet, and an ascetic lifestyle, and it works,” says Sergey Matevosyan.

“A German drug addict is invited to a cafe, treated to coffee, and given methadone. Then he comes again. He is tested - if he does not inject himself with heroin, he is given methadone again. And the rest of the time no one needs him, go die,” says Pastor Mikhail from the center in the Kemerovo region.

The methadone issue has long been controversial. By and large, the technology is designed for desperately ill patients, but it protects society from the spread of infections.

12 steps

“Many people do not understand that treating the body is only part of the problem in addiction treatment,” says psychotherapist Tatyana Trifolovskaya, a psychotherapist at the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology, “and treatment for addiction also requires treatment of the soul, a change in society and a lot of work in the family.”

Trifolovskaya considers only the world-famous “12 steps” program to be effective. By participating in it, 5 million people addicted to drugs in the world live a normal life.

At metro stations in the capital, you won’t recognize people from mutual aid groups for Narcotics Anonymous among the crowd, but they are there. They are waiting there for those who have an attack of drug cravings. Such groups are created everywhere (there are more than a dozen of them in the capital) by participants in the 12 Steps program.

Narcotics Anonymous works according to a program similar to the one created in the United States in the 1930s to help alcoholics.

Its essence comes down to the recognition of the fact: a person alone is powerless to cope with the problem of drug addiction or alcoholism, and therefore he needs help to recover, and this means radically changing his life. In the group, all its members are anonymous, including when contacting the media. Everyone has a curator - a volunteer from those who have lived a “clean” life for at least a year. The 12 Steps are not affiliated with a church by charter, although there are religious groups.

Narcotics Anonymous believe that the family often aggravates the problem: it pays the addict’s debts, controls drug use, but the more the addict is protected from the truth of his situation, the less chance he has to begin to recover (in this, by the way, church centers are in full solidarity with these activists) .

Addicts come to the “12 steps”, as a rule, having already lost their studies, jobs and the trust of loved ones, they are powerless over the disease and, recognizing this, they find support from people with the same problems, but who already have experience in solving them, as well as professional help from consultants and psychologists, help from loved ones and other sources of help. All this is built into a clearly structured system of long-term, sometimes multi-year, support.

They learn to organize safety measures, for example, avoid communication with active drug addicts, acquire the skills of a “clean” life, lost over the years of using “dope,” learn to recognize and adequately express their feelings, and prevent the development of breakdowns.

Help-seeking skills are developed at Narcotics Anonymous meetings, which are included in the basic three-month course.

There are classes for mixed groups of patients and relatives, joint sports competitions, holidays, discos, saunas and fishing.

The basic premise of rehabilitation is that drug addiction is almost forever. Treatment is always only voluntary, based on the informed consent of the patient.

Religious activists have doubts about the 12 Steps because they consider it a vicious circle. The group does not lead a person anywhere; sooner or later he will get tired of this circle. For example, Orthodox and Protestants not only try to lead to recovery, but also introduce former drug addicts to healthy people, involve them in a great cause that is not connected only with the matter of saving drug addicts.

“If a soul enslaved by evil wants to free itself, it must fill itself with new meaning. The meaning for the soul is to become part of a big and real thing. Otherwise, everything is in vain,” says Olga M., who traveled to various centers, first in search of a cure, and then to exchange experiences.

Roots

To combat a phenomenon, you need to understand its nature. There are three concepts. The first boils down to the fact that immigrants from Central Asia, Afghans, are to blame for the dominance of drugs. The second insists on some abstract corruption of officials. The third says that drugs are a weapon of Western intelligence services against Russia. All three would be fine if drugs were rampant only in Russia.

Last week, Vice President of Afghanistan Karim Khalili received from the director of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov a list of senior officials in his country involved in drug trafficking. This list was first made public by American television channel ABC News in June 2006, when secret Pentagon documents on US Afghan allies were made public.

But the UN speaks openly and annually about more complex connections.

Thus, the report of the UN Committee on Drugs and Crime for 2007 directly states that NATO troops are prohibited from touching opium fields. In January 2008, the head of this committee, Antonio Maria Costa, gave a striking example. To convert 1 ton of raw opium into heroin, you need 2-6 tons of acetic anhydride, which is not produced in Afghanistan. In 2005 alone, 10 thousand tons of anhydride were imported, that is, a caravan of 500 20-ton trailers entered the country. NATO did not notice these cars and did not ask why there was so much vinegar.

The Ministry of Combating Drug Trafficking in Afghanistan told a Gazeta correspondent two years ago that Afghans would not be able to overcome the problem alone. After all, 2-3.2 million Afghans grow poppy, that is, approximately every tenth of the 25 million population. They and their families will die if the poppy is burned. Afghan officers showed covert footage of plantations guarded by foreign soldiers and scenes of loading onto foreign planes.

Since 2006, unsuccessful negotiations have been ongoing to open a representative office of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation in Kabul. Afghanistan has not yet received any real assistance in the fight against drugs from any country.

According to state drug control estimates, approximately 30% of the harvest goes from Afghanistan to Russia via the northern route through the porous borders of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. In Kyrgyzstan, while the American base was operating there, a plan for industrial-scale poppy planting was seriously discussed.

Why is it that with such awareness of the world's intelligence services about the state of affairs, it is impossible to defeat the entire network? After all, intelligence services know how to track down spies or secret organizations. Why was it possible to find out about 400 chemical laboratories on the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, but not to destroy them? Why is it easy to buy all the equipment for growing cannabis on the Internet? Why do young people know where the potion is sold, but the security forces do not?

The simplest answer suggests itself: apparently, the special services are not interested in covering up drug trafficking, since it is an inexhaustible source of black cash. This question has been studied by many former CIA and MI6 employees using the examples of the actions of Albanian and Kurdish drug couriers, the Colombian drug cartel and the Asian opium “golden triangle”.

Not a single intelligence service in the world has ever admitted that it is powerless against drug trafficking.

The most famous example of drug trafficking is the opium wars, which were carried out by Britain against China in 1840-1860. Britain wanted to import and distribute opium from Bengal, which was banned in China. The Chinese burned warehouses, arrested consumers, and the war began. China lost, paid a huge indemnity, gave up Hong Kong, and the British received the right to trade opium. China's population has dropped from 416 million to 50 million people over 40 years.

In the 60s of the 20th century, the FBI developed and introduced a drug network into the ranks of the Black Panthers when they were considered dangerous to the United States. In the 1970s, drug couriers were sent to Indian reservations, where a strong liberation movement had developed. Until now, on Indian reservations, strict pressure is applied to any offenders, except for alcohol dealers and drug couriers.

Only a few countries in history have been able to defeat drugs.

The USSR coped with drug addiction until 1991, although there were marijuana and opium plantations on its territory. Communist China managed to overcome drugs with executions and tough policies.

The Taliban government easily dealt with this disaster, something that people in Afghanistan don’t like to remember now. According to a UN report, the Taliban sharply reduced poppy cultivation to 185 tons per year, and practically eliminated it in 2000-2001.

Iran is also fighting drug trafficking. Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, European hippies made drug pilgrimages to Iran. In 1989, Iran introduced the death penalty for drug trafficking. Most of the 300 annual executions in Iran that outrage human rights activists are of drug traffickers. Iran has strengthened the border with Afghanistan, and its border guards are engaged in real battles and systematic shooting of heroin caravans.

Such measures are unacceptable for Western countries. In Europe, drugs are legalized and doses are dispensed in pharmacies. Do we still have time to choose a “special” path?

Good day, my dear friends and readers! This article is not quite usual for me. “Confession of a drug addict. I hate myself." It was written as part of the “2100 words a week” marathon, organized by Svetlana Loktysh. This is not the first event organized by Svetlanka in which I have taken part.

For myself, I decided that I would post my progress reports on the Zen channel. It’s convenient for me and the marathon organizer can always watch. I published my first stories on the channel “ About life, money and love", then to " Zebra ».

First, they blocked my channel “About Life, Money and Love”, allegedly for copy-paste. I created another one - “Zebra”. Fortunately, it's free. The second one was blocked for me too. Now the wording was different:

The channel is limited in displays because it violates the requirements for publications, namely, it contains materials that may frighten or shock readers, containing descriptions and/or images of: victims of disasters and violent acts, corpses, diseases and deformities, intimate parts of the body and the process of childbirth, injuries, diseases, insects and animals whose appearance causes disgust.

I will write about Zen and my relationship with him a little later. Now a little more about this note.

On the channel the story was called “Why do I hate this life? Because I hate myself! For the blog, I changed the name to “Confessions of a Drug Addict.” I don’t know, maybe, by the standards of the Yandex.Zen security service, the article will scare or shock someone, but I was thinking about something else.

There are too many temptations in life for young people. Their friends egg them on, they take them to the “weak” level. And rarely does anyone think that one wrong step can ruin their life. Now that you know the motives that prompted me to write this story, read it.

I am twenty seven years old. My life is a nightmare. Nobody needs me. Even my mother wishes me dead. Wishes and fears that it will happen. She can be understood. It’s hard to see how your son doesn’t live, but suffers.

My father was killed by a drug addict. He just needed money for a dose. Perhaps he didn't want to kill. But, snatching the purse from dad, he pushed so hard that dad fell and hit his temple on the curb.

Mom is afraid that I will become a killer too. And I am the killer. I'm killing myself.

I hate this life. I hate myself. I hate heroin and can't live without it. I'm a heroin addict. Heroin replaced everything and everyone for me. Heroin took everything and everyone from me.

Did I think when I extended my hand for the injection for the first time that this would happen? Of course not. A friend suggested: “Try it! Once doesn't count." And I agreed. This was a turning point in my life. It was at that moment that life was divided into “before” and “after”.

“Before” everything was fine. A loving family, studying at the institute, a girlfriend, friends... “After” is a constant race in search of a dose, mother’s tears, loss of friends and girlfriend, withdrawal symptoms...

My friend became my huckster. But not for long. He was stabbed with a knife by a sufferer to whom he did not lend a dose.

How many hucksters were there later? Almost all of them broke down, unable to withstand the temptation. Every drug addict has his own list of those who left before. And on this list, sooner or later, he will also take his place, becoming one of the many losers in the drug game.

What my parents did was to try to pull me out. They talked, explained, treated, giving huge amounts of money. Many people profit from this business, promising to get rid of the problem forever.

Don't believe it! They are doing their own business. All they can do is apply drops to relieve withdrawal symptoms. No one can change their brains.

Parents locked their houses, handcuffing them to the radiator. I understood that they wanted the best for me, but my body, my mind required a dose. And I ran away in search of adventure.

The institute is a thing of the past. For two years I still tried to study. But then they “caught” me at the point. I found myself under investigation. The huckster tried to introduce me as a salesman. The investigation sorted it out, but I received my “condition” for storage and consumption for personal purposes.

I was afraid to get into the zone. Stopped injecting. I thought I was done. I lasted three months. But then I stopped sleeping completely. Closing my eyes, I constantly saw the syringe. And I lost it.

There was an overdose. I don’t know who the kind person was who called the ambulance. But then I was grateful to him. I really wanted to live! I still hoped that I could handle it.

For six months, a whole six months, I didn’t touch drugs. This is a good time frame. The body has become cleansed. But the mind is not. The day my father passed away, I lost it again. I don't remember the funeral. I was high.

On my father's nine days, there was an overdose again. Mom saved me. She, sensing something was wrong, entered the room. I wasn't breathing. She kicked me, forcing me to breathe. Forced me. And now he lives in constant fear that this will happen again.

I myself wanted to be treated after that. I felt sorry for my mother. The silent reproach in her eyes burned my soul. Does a drug addict have a soul? I don't know. It seems to me that there is a black hole instead.

I found the group “Life Without Drugs” myself. It's something like Alcoholics Anonymous. Everyone talks about themselves, their problems, what they want. There was only one goal - to live a clean day.

The people in the group were different. People were constantly changing. Some came in the hope of changing their lives, others left forever - into another world. Those who still managed to escape from the clutches of the white monster also came. Their example gave hope.

In the group I met Varya. Mutual sympathy arose. We started living together. We didn't plan anything. We simply rejoiced at every day we lived without the white infection, and my mother was happy for us. And thanked God.

I worked as a loader in a store. Varya was doing her nails. She's a great master. Old clients returned to her, several people signed up a day. Free money appeared. Life was getting better. They even started making plans for the future.

But then something went wrong. One day, when I came running for lunch, I found Varya passed out. There was a syringe lying nearby. I immediately felt feverish. I ran for a dose. A month of nightmare for me, Varya, mom.

And then it was all over. Varya and I hid our sweets from each other.” But this time I didn’t have time to hide it. While I was talking to my mother, Varya widened. This was the last injection in her life.

The investigator later said that the heroin was laced with some kind of nasty substance. It turns out that Varya saved my life. Mom says that Varya’s death is on my conscience.

And I know this myself. I looked into the eyes of death again. She shows herself to me, but doesn’t pick me up yet. She's playing with me. Maybe give a “golden injection” and that’s it?

What about mom? She will feel bad without me. But she feels bad with me too.

I'm stumped. Been at a dead end for a long time. And the path to this dead end is paved with corpses.

I understand that life is not to blame - I am to blame. But I hate this life because I don't know how to live. And I hate myself...

Discussion of the story “Confession of a Drug Addict”

I understand that discussing such things is not easy. Express your opinion about what you read. Are such publications necessary?

PS: I deleted this story from the channel.

Good luck to all of us!

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