Speaking ahead of possible public action in Moscow in favor of legalizing marijuana, Viktor Cherkesov also said he was against decriminalizing the drug, which he said would promote more drugs usage, especially among young people.
"These people are not drug addicts," said Viktor Cherkesov, the head of the Federal Drug Control Service. "Only about 500,000 people are registered with psycho-neurological centers as drug addicts."
Cherkesov quoted the Health Ministry statistics that Russia has about 1.8 million drug addicts, including 1.3 million not registered with medical centers. He said about 80% of Russian drug addicts were heroin users.
"In other words, 1.5 million are heroin addicts," Cherkesov said, adding that his agency had confiscated 4.6 metric tons of the drug in 2005.
He also said drug addiction had been curbed compared to the 1990s, when the number of those who had tried drugs soared from 50,000-60,000 to 4-6 million.
"Today this dynamic has been frozen," he said.
