100 thousand hectares of wild hemp discovered in Siberia

In the Siberian Federal District, the operational and preventive operation "Poppy" has begun, the purpose of which is to identify and eliminate areas where drug-containing plants grow, as well as to block the channels of illegal transportation of drugs made from hemp and poppy. The territory of the Siberian Federal District has its own extensive raw material base for the production of drugs from wild hemp. The infestation of wild hemp in the Siberian Federal District amounts to more than 100 thousand hectares.

According to the department of interdepartmental interaction and public relations of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation for the Siberian Federal District, the territories of the republics of Tyva, Buryatia and the Chita region are the most contaminated with hemp - about 70 thousand hectares. It is from here that large quantities of drugs of plant origin are supplied to various regions of the district and beyond. The unstable socio-economic situation in these regions of the district aggravates the situation and contributes to both the drug addiction of the population and its involvement in illegal activities.

The Federal Targeted Anti-Drug Program does not provide for full funding for measures to destroy wild hemp in the subjects of the Russian Federation. As a result, thickets of narcotic plants are destroyed by the efforts of district and regional administrations. In 2007, the practice of issuing orders to agricultural enterprises in the territory where hemp grows to destroy such plants will continue. For failure to take measures to destroy them, the legislation provides for an administrative penalty in the form of a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles. Also, according to Russian legislation, sowing, growing or cultivating poppy and hemp entails criminal liability.

The high degree of danger of the influx of plant drugs is evidenced by many factors: the availability of raw materials for the production of drugs from hemp in the Siberian Federal District, the low price of drugs of plant origin, primarily marijuana, and the active drug propaganda of marijuana. This explains the fact that 85 percent of the drugs seized by drug control agencies from illegal circulation are made from hemp. The danger of the spread of marijuana among young people is that in most cases it is the beginning of a drug lifestyle.

The operation is carried out annually from May to October by employees of territorial drug control agencies with the participation of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, customs, the Russian Federal Security Service, and the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, and is carried out in two stages. Last year, during Operation Poppy, more than 1,300 hotbeds of wild hemp growth were identified on 75 thousand hectares, 52 crops of prohibited plants were found, and more than 2 tons of plant-based drugs were seized, the source specified.

Alexander Mikhailov