FBIS4-22214
"jpusr033___94010"
FBIS Report: Central Eurasia
19 February 1994
RUSSIA
REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Sakhalin Notes Increase in Drug Abuse
Sakhalin Notes Increase in Drug Abuse
944F0465B Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk SVOBODNYY SAKHALIN in Russian No
7, 19 Feb 94 p 13
944F0465B
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk SVOBODNYY SAKHALIN
Russian
CSO
[Interview with Leche Tepsurkayev, chief of Counternarcotics
Division of Sakhalin Oblast Internal Affairs Administration, by
Oleg Demakov; date and place not given: "The Sakhalin Drug
Trade: Dealers and Victims"]
[Text] In 1993 there were 158 cases in the oblast in
which people were charged with drug trafficking and drug
possession, and more than 200 kilograms of drugs were
confiscated. In 1992 there were only 70 such trials and only 68
kilograms of confiscated drugs.
We were motivated to begin looking into the problem of drug
abuse not only by the sinister statistics, but also by our
personal observations. Young men and women who are clearly under
the influence of drugs are a common sight on our streets.
Conversations in which drug terms, such as "joint,"
"freebasing," "mainlining," and "lid," are commonly used are not
extraordinary either.
Finally, the sight of teenagers openly rolling a "joint" on
the steps of the Oktyabr movie theater provided the conclusive
evidence that the weakness for drugs has become the genuine
scourge of a whole generation.
A SVOBODNYY SAKHALIN correspondent interviewed the main
enemy
of the Sakhalin drug mafia, Leche Tepsurkayev, the chief of the
Counternarcotics Division of the oblast Internal Affairs
Administration.
[Tepsurkayev] One of the problems of drug abuse in Russia is
the absence of legislation allowing us to take any action
against, for example, those teenagers at the theater. The law
stating that criminal proceedings would be instituted against
any person caught using drugs twice in one year has been
repealed. For this reason, the drug user no longer has anything
to fear.
[Demakov] Would you say that most of the drugs on Sakhalin
are not produced locally?
[Tepsurkayev] They definitely are not. They enter the oblast
through a multitude of channels. They usually come through
Central Asia (opium from Afghanistan comes through Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan), and poppy straw comes
here from Ukraine. The principal and most dangerous supplier,
however, is Maritime Kray, the source of the marijuana. There
are drugs from Vietnam, China, and North Korea. There are
channels through which drugs and guns are shipped from Sakhalin
to Japan....
[Demakov] This is especially true now that the drug trade
generates profits of up to 1,000 percent for the criminals. Is
your division capable of keeping an eye on all of the known
channels?
[Tepsurkayev] We can monitor them, but the legislative base
is constantly letting us down. The only grounds for the
institution of criminal proceedings are complaints from citizens
or organizations, and we are not getting any.
The only way we can put a dealer on trial is to catch him in
the act. Even when we do this, however, any defense attorney can
use a number of tricks to prove that our actions were illegal.
[Demakov] Although literally everyone, including that
defense
attorney, knows that this is a real criminal....
[Tepsurkayev] Of course. That is why we receive offers of
help from representatives of the former Russian Federation
Ministry of Security, the heads of the Internal Affairs
Administration, and the oblast administration.
Back in 1987 the Supreme Soviet published an edict
authorizing each administration to institute drug control. Our
administration exercised this right, which allowed us to
question suspects without any delays. Today this might be the
only way of taking any kind of firm action while staying within
the law.
[Demakov] Who is your typical "client"?
[Tepsurkayev] The drug trade is an international business,
and that is why anyone at all might be involved in it. In most
cases, however, they are adults who can afford to come up with
the large initial investment. This kind of "client," even if he
is put on trial, rarely pays for his own crimes. He always has
the prospect of buying his way out of the problem by hiring a
good defense attorney.... Furthermore, this kind of criminal is
quite difficult to convict, because all of the work is done by
those young people we were talking about, and they are the ones
who do the time in prison.
Another problem is the tendency of illegal drugs to become a
consolidating factor for young users, uniting the addicts in an
extended organization. They know each other and are in contact
with each other....
Unfortunately, the percentage of crimes committed by addicts
is constantly rising: Strong drugs cost so much that it is
simply impossible to earn this much money legally. A single gram
of opium, for example, or a cup of poppy straw can cost from
25,000 to 30,000 rubles. Marijuana costs the same.
[Demakov] And in this community, in addition to the "common
needles" the drug abusers share, they also have "common causes":
They join forces in "bombing" homes and stripping passersby of
their clothes and shoes....
[Tepsurkayev] That is true, and it is frightening. That is
why we urge them and their parents to come to us before it is
too late. Your children will not necessarily be put on trial,
and your statements can give us the grounds to prosecute those
who are poisoning your family members. The telephone number of
our division is 2-39-71.