Addicts Should Be Forcibly Treated, Chief Sanitary Doctor Says

Sergei Porter / Vedomosti

Chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko

Chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said Wednesday that Russia should introduce apolicy offorcibly treating some drug addicts.

"It is obvious that humane, mandatory [treatment] is essential. Who, how andunder what conditions those are questions that must be answered," Onishchenko told Interfax.

But Onishchenko stressed that compulsory treatment should be one ofa set oftools used tocontrol drug-addiction levels.

"Forced treatment should not be auniversal cure but one ofmany measures," he said.

Other measures tolimit addiction mentioned byOnishchenko included ad campaigns promoting ahealthy lifestyle andefforts tocrack down ondrug traffickers.

Earlier Wednesday, theFederal Drug Control Service released thelatest data onthe prevalence ofdrug dependency.

According tothe research, 8.5 million Russians regularly or occasionally use drugs, asignificant increase over thefigure of5 million cited inthe agency's last report.

Onishchenko's backing offorced drug-addiction treatment is thelatest indication that thegovernment is toughening its narcotics policy.

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Addicts Should Be Forcibly Treated, Chief Sanitary Doctor Says