Drug policy of the Soviet Union

The drug policy of the Soviet Union changed little throughout the existence of the state, other than slowly becoming more repressive,[1][2][3] although some differences in penalties existed in the different Union Republics.[4] However, the prevalence of drug addiction remained reportedly low as first claimed by Soviet authorities[5][6] which later (under Mikhail Gorbachev) acknowledged a much larger problem;[7][8] at least to drugs other than alcohol or tobacco;[4][9] however, the rates of addiction increased in post-Soviet states.[2][9][10][11][12][13]

Regulation

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Legislation against drugs first appeared in post-revolutionary Russia, in Article 104-d of the 1922 penal code of the RSFSR,[14] criminalising drug production, trafficking, and possession with intent to traffic. The 1924 Soviet Constitution expanded this legislation to cover the whole Soviet Union.[15] The 1926 penal code of the RSFSR suggested imprisonment or corrective labour for between one and three years as punishment for these offences, depending on the scale of the offence committed. Drug possession without intention to traffic and the personal use of drugs warranted no penalties at this time.

Drug regulation remained largely untouched in the Soviet Union until 1974, when the Supreme Soviet issued a decree entitled 'On Reinforcement of the Fight Against Drug Addiction'.[16] This decree was reproduced in Article 224 of the penal codes of all the republics of the USSR, and not only increased the penalties for the offences mentioned above to between ten and fifteen years' imprisonment, but for the first time criminalised possession of drugs without intent to traffic, bringing a penalty of up to three years in prison. Additional offences of 'seducing another person to narcotic drugs', punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, and the theft of narcotics, punishable by between five and fifteen years' imprisonment, were also created. The term 'narcotics' used here referred to all drugs listed by UN Conventions, not just opiates.[1]

A further decree issued in 1987 made a conviction for the above offences within a year of an earlier conviction for the same violation of the law liable to punishment of up to two years' imprisonment or corrective labor. Sergei Lebedev, the Chairman of the Association of Independent Advocates in Leningrad at the time, argued that the steady escalation of criminal penalties for drug use was "indicative of the Soviet authorities' resignation to their complete inability to solve drug problems in a constructive and humane way".[17]

Treatment

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Treatment was performed in various different ways depending on the substance the patient was addicted to: a physician would usually administer their drug of choice in small doses for maintenance, which was done to reduce the intensity of the withdrawal symptoms.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Latypov, Alisher B. (30 December 2011). "The Soviet doctor and the treatment of drug addiction: 'A difficult and most ungracious task'" (PDF). Harm Reduction Journal. 8 (1): 32. doi:10.1186/1477-7517-8-32. ISSN 1477-7517. LCCN 2004243422. OCLC 818986724. PMC 3275499. PMID 22208726.
  2. ^ a b Kauschanski, Alexander (11 November 2019). Limbourg, Peter (ed.). "Drug addiction in Russia: Draconian laws instead of help". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  3. ^ Bird, Michael (12 November 2013). Shaw, Craig (ed.). "Smack in the USSR: how injecting drugs in the Soviet Union was socializing". The Black Sea. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b Conroy, Mary Schaeffer (1 July 1990). "Abuse of Drugs other than Alcohol and Tobacco in the Soviet Union". Soviet Studies. 42 (3): 447–480. doi:10.1080/09668139008411881. ISSN 0966-8136. JSTOR 152045. LCCN 93645761. OCLC 760957849.
  5. ^ Kramer, John M. (1 January 1988). "Drug abuse in the Soviet Union". Problems of Communism. 37 (1). United States Information Agency/Routledge: 28. ISSN 1075-8216. LCCN 95659082. OCLC 863051164.
  6. ^ Babaian, E.A. (1 January 1971). "Drug addiction control in the USSR". Bulletin on Narcotics. XXIV (1): 1–2.
  7. ^ Grogan, Louise (1 April 2006). "Alcoholism, Tobacco, and Drug Use in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union". Substance Use & Misuse. 41 (4): 564–571. doi:10.1080/10826080500521664. ISSN 1082-6084. LCCN 2006268261. OCLC 901021821. PMID 16522564. S2CID 45417699. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  8. ^ Kramer, John M. (1992). "Drug Abuse in the USSR". In Joyce, Walter; White, Stephen (eds.). Social Change and Social Issues in the Former USSR. Fourth World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies. Social change and social issues in the former USSR. Vol. IX. Harrogate: International Council Soviet and East European Studies. pp. 53–79. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-22069-4_3. ISBN 978-1-349-22071-7.
  9. ^ a b Davis, Robert B. (1 February 1994). "Drug and alcohol use in the former Soviet Union: selected factors and future considerations". International Journal of the Addictions. 29 (3): 303–323. doi:10.3109/10826089409047383. ISSN 1082-6084. LCCN 2006268261. OCLC 901021821. PMID 8188430.
  10. ^ Neuhauser 1990, p. 8-20, Background.
  11. ^ Kramer, John M. (21 March 1990). "Drug Abuse in Eastern Europe: An Emerging Issue of Public Policy". Slavic Review. 49 (1). Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies/Cambridge University Press: 19–31. doi:10.2307/2500413. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 2500413. LCCN 47006565. OCLC 818900629. S2CID 163818908.
  12. ^ Powell, David (1 July 1972). "Drug Abuse in Communist Europe". Problems of Communism. 22 (1). United States Information Agency/Routledge: 31–40. ISSN 1075-8216. LCCN 95659082. OCLC 863051164.
  13. ^ Cohen, Peter (25 February 1993). Future drug policy in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc: The difficult choice to be non Western. European Colloquium on the Crisis of Normative Systems. Vol. 25. Paris: Groupe Européenne de Recherche sur les Normativités. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Criminal Code of the RSFSR (1934), Table of Contents". Cyberussr.com. 1934-10-01. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  15. ^ (in Russian) http://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1924/
  16. ^ Neuhauser 1990, p. 21-23, The Response of State and Society.
  17. ^ "Drug Policy in the USSR". Drugtext.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2011-04-20.

Bibliography

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