A total of 825 people died from drug overdoses in Moscow last year, almost twice as many as in 2008, the director of a Moscow drug research center told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

"A total of 555 people died from drug overdoses in 2008. In 2009 the figure rose to 825. We are investigating what caused the surge," Yevgeny Bryun said.

Moscow's drug control department previously said drug-related deaths in the Russian capital had dropped by 30% last year.

According to Russia's Federal Drug Control Service, there are some 550,000 drug addicts, mostly heroin addicts, officially registered in Russia. Unofficial estimates are as high as 2.5 million, accounting for almost 2% of the Russian population.

The federal drug service says that 30,000 people die in Russia every year from heroin, around 90% of it coming from Afghanistan.

MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti)