MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian drug police seized over 38 tons of drugs, including 3.5 tons of heroin, in Russia in 2008, the speaker of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament said on Thursday.
A total of 537,000 people in Russia are registered as drug addicts, but the real number "could be five times higher," State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said during parliamentary hearings on drug trafficking from Afghanistan. Most Russian heroin users are under the age of 40, and almost 90% of them use heroin from Afghanistan.
"Since 1990, drug consumption in Russia has grown almost tenfold and is currently eight times higher than in the European Union," Gryzlov said.
According to the Federal Drug Control service, over 30 metric tons of drugs were seized in Russia in 2007.
