Surge In Abuse Blamed On West's Failings In Afghanistan, But Addicts Go Untreated

At a playground just off the busy Prospekt Mira thoroughfare in central Moscow, there aren't any children playing on the swings. The slide is covered in dirty snow, the sandpit is strewn with empty vodka bottles and, on close inspection, a few used syringes. Mothers whisper to each other that the playground is the home of narkomany - drug addicts - and wheel their pushchairs swiftly past.

It's just one small sign of a vast hidden epidemic of heroin use that Russian officials and civil society groups say threatens the very existence of the nation. "It's a threat to our national security, our society, and our civilisation itself," said Viktor Ivanov, Russia's top drugs official, at a meeting with reporters recently. He estimated that there are more than two million drug addicts in Russia, which amounts to one addict for every 50 Russians of working age, a level that is up to eight times higher than in EU countries.

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