The round table on "Nevinnomyssk against smoking and aromatic blends" was held on 4 December, by the Head of the city Konstantin Khramov. The frank conversation was initiated by the Regional Public Ecological Organization "Environmental Watch". It is all the more remarkable that the event was attended by representatives of the authorities, law enforcement, education, health, and journalists.
In the past few years, Russia has been faced with an entirely new phenomenon - the so-called smoking blends. Narcotic effect of certain substances of plant origin (or their mixtures) has been known for thousands of years. Substances that make up the smoking and aromatic blends, are known in science as "entheogens" (translated from Greek - "creates God within"). To the public far from academic circles, these substances are known by more understandable name - "tearing off the head". This name meets the essence more: in criminal chronicles there are cases when teenagers, having "created God within", jumped from the balconies and went to the "free flight".
It has been demonstrated by laboratory studies in Europe that we face - drugs that have penetrated into the consumer market under the guise of innocent, at first glance, pleasure. Certain methods of use create narcotic effect, comparable with the effect of heroin and cocaine. However, in contrast to those widely known and illicit drugs, smoking blends have legal status and are in a public sale (in many countries, this "explosive mixture" is strictly forbidden in any form).
Russia's chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko has forbidden for sale the basic components that are most commonly used in smoking mixtures: salvia divinorum, Hawaiian rose and blue lotus. But the State Duma only established the size of excise taxes on these commodity items from January 2010, thus confirming the legal status of these pseudo-drugs. Such "coordinated" actions of the two branches of the federal government are another example of that "both hands are independent".
Small packing (1g) and relatively low price (compared with the aforementioned drugs) - from 350 to 1000 rubles, make them accessible to many segments of the population. Nevinnomyssk in this sense is not an exception: half a year ago in the city there were 5-6 points of sale, today there are over 20. According to the Nevinnomyssk Diagnosis and Consulting Center, for the past three years the number of adolescents in the city, who use psychoactive substances, has increased by 3.5 (!) times. This is another fact that the law enforcement showed themselves completely helpless.
"What to do?" - Head of the city Konstantin Khramov puzzled the participants of the round table. He notified the audience that on the entrepreneurs "making profit out of health of children", Nevinnomyssk would declare a real war by all possible administrative means. All agreed that we need a broad educational work, aimed at various segments of the population: children, parents, teachers, etc. The new perception should gain public service advertising: videos, clips, posters, leaflets. Increasing demand for the potion points to the fact that for the time being the society has been loosing the information war with the "merchants of death".
Dmitry Deryabin, Head of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky rehabilitation center, proposed to use five years of experience accumulated by the center in working with drug addicts: "We already have the guys who gave up smoking blends, and they are ready to go to schools, to youth in order to tell what they have overcome on the path to normalcy. It turns out that many parents simply do not know that this evil can be defeated. This is necessary to speak in detail, without embellishment, "one must know his enemy". A program for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, implemented by the center, is recognized one of the best and most efficient in Russia.
Nikolai Mamedov, Head of the Regional Public Ecological Organization "Environmental Watch" (organizer of the "round table") in his speech said: "We offer public methods and specific activities to combat this scourge. First, we are ready to begin collecting signatures to appeal to the State Duma, so that in the near future to bring the regulatory framework on these issues in conformity with the requirements of time. I hope, will be available a hotline for those smoking blends, so that people can report the points where the potion is sold, in addition, one can call the public reception room of the "Environmental Watch", all of this information will immediately be transmitted to law enforcement. We will launch extensive educational work in schools and colleges of the city. We plan to sign a joint agreement with public organizations of the city on the prevention of free flow of the stated pseudo-drugs in the city. We propose to create on the urban site a section on the impact of smoking mixtures and to place there "Shame board" with photos of employers under the working title "They trade death". We are ready to conduct mini-pickets by the "youth wing" of the organization "Environmental Watch" near the points of sale with the distribution of information materials, as well as participate in joint raids with the police, Federal Consumer Protection and Human Welfare Agency and other organizations.
Deputy Chief of the Drug Control Service Yevgeny Dudetsky focused on some features of this criminal business: "According to our information, these smoking blends are processed with synthetic substances - tetragidrokanadelon, in simple terms - synthetic cannabis (anasha). So, in essence, these are drugs, not yet listed as banned. Currently, these mixes are sold by the same people who sell food poppy seed, incidentally, also treated with methadone. They, in fact, expanding their customer base through smoking mixtures. I propose to include into the working group representatives of all the structures, which can suppress these outlets through administrative methods. The only condition - checkups must be sudden, to exclude the possibility of information leakage".
Head of education department of the city administration Lyudmila Bratsykhina reported that the schools had introduced additional units of psychologists, social workers and teachers of further education for more effective advocacy and "pointed" work with specific teenagers.
Well, the conversation was really serious. However, I do not think that even with so impressive ending one should fall into euphoria: we remember many examples when more global campaigns ended in nothing. The only criterion by which one can judge the seriousness of intentions in the fight against the new evil - completed cases (do not exclude criminal ones). As they say - time will show.
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