Salt for veins

In Russia, strong drugs are sold under the guise of bath salts, fish food and flower fertilizers, which drive people crazy.

No prohibited items were found

On July 9, a kiosk selling cosmetics burned down on Tupolev Street in Tver. 23-year-old ex-world jiu-jitsu champion Yegor Sokolov threw a Molotov cocktail inside the stall. The “pyromaniac” claims that in this way he cleansed the city of drug pollution and that the man who burned alive in the kiosk sold this very pollution under the guise of... bath salts.

“Residents of neighboring houses also say that drugs were sold in the kiosk,” says Viktor Prutovykh, deputy head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Tver. – But in those bags of bath salts that we seized, the examination did not find any prohibited substances.

The examination could have been blind for a very simple reason. We are not talking about the usual type of granulated sea or cosmetic salt in jars and boxes, but about powder in small, sample-like, bright sachets. Such “salt” costs money unimaginable for lovers of home baths - from 1,500 rubles per 1 gram, and, of course, it is not diluted in water, but snorted or injected into a vein. This pseudo-salt contains either the potent drug mephedrone or not yet prohibited analogues, the effect of which is similar to that of amphetamines and cocaine. A person who consumes such a powder first experiences euphoria, then a terrible depression. After the third time (!) he becomes completely dependent, psychoses and schizophrenic delusions develop. Without powders, a person simply goes crazy.

The worst thing is that the substances in question are not on the list of prohibited substances. That is why in drug addict slang such “salt” powders are called “legal”.

Hot item

The situation with this very “legal” wiper is very reminiscent of the story with “Maximka” type windshield wipers sold in hardware stores. All the sellers knew that this product was being used for other purposes and that alcoholics were dying from it, but they sold it anyway. As for “salt,” it is aimed at young people - it is advertised on the Internet as a legal club drug (as if a drug could be legal in our country). And the stalls where they sell it are often located near educational institutions. For example, in Ufa, such a kiosk with cosmetics stood on Kirov Street next to several colleges. They started selling “bath salts” there in the summer; police officers visited there on November 26th. According to detectives, the saleswoman sold up to 15 bags of this rubbish a day, but now she assures that she did not understand what exactly she was selling, and could not understand why this product was in demand. In October in Volgograd, 13 teenagers with acute psychoses from the use of “salts” were admitted to drug treatment. Similar cases occurred in Kazan, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. According to the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia, this year “bath salts” appeared in 52 regions of Russia.

“I’m currently seeing a patient who started using it at the end of August, and in October came to our clinic with severe mental disorders,” says Alexey Kuznetsov, senior researcher at the National Scientific Center for Narcology of Roszdrav. “The first two weeks it was scary to look at him. The man did not understand what was happening around him; he banged his head against the wall. It is not clear what is mixed in these “salts”. And the tests reveal nothing. Imagine: a mother sees that something wrong is happening to her child, takes him to a doctor, but it is impossible to determine that her son or daughter has turned into a drug addict. Such things need to be banned as quickly as possible.

“Color, smell, effect - everything remains the same!”

It’s easy to talk about a ban, but it’s difficult to implement it. The State Drug Control Agency is trying to resist the new infection as best it can. For example, the same mephedrone, under the guise of salts, went to the people at the end of last year, and on July 29, 2010 it was included in the list of narcotic substances. The decree on its complete ban came into force only on August 12. Drug dealers immediately got their bearings and began using other substances with a similar effect. And the Internet is again full of advertisements for the sale of “legal” powders. Sellers do not hesitate to praise the poisonous product, emphasizing that everything is legal. “All products presented on this site do not contradict the laws of the Russian Federation (including all changes in 2010), are distributed exclusively for informational purposes and laboratory experiments and are not intended for oral consumption,” says one of these sites. “By purchasing any product, you confirm that you are 18 years of age or older and assume full responsibility for any future use of the product.”
Can you imagine what a trap this is for a teenager who wants to feel like an adult as soon as possible? Here are certificates that the powders have been tested for quality (not a word is said about their real danger), here are assurances of legality, here is an advertisement for “new products” - for connoisseurs: “Legal salt has appeared on sale with a new composition, but with the same effect! Now does not contain mephedrone and methylone!!! But you won't even feel the difference!!! Color, smell, effect – everything remains the same!!!”

I call the number indicated on the website, asking about the effect of use. The salesperson on the other end carefully informs that these drugs are intended for evaluation purposes. Let me rephrase the question: will I get the same effect from the new products in a laboratory experiment as with the previous drugs?

The interlocutor assures that yes:

– 1 gram – from 2500 rubles plus 200 for delivery. Delivery is carried out at ring metro stations.

Slow response

The State Drug Control Service does not like to dwell on the topic of “legal drugs.” For fighters against the drug mafia, this is a sore point: on the one hand, they are afraid that by voicing the problem, they will unwittingly promote a new drug, on the other hand, they simply cannot keep up with the manufacturers of psychotropic substances.

“We update the list of prohibited drugs, but every year up to a hundred new substances appear,” says FSKN official representative Nikolai Kartashov. He believes that the department is unfairly accused of slowness. Investigators quickly identify new substances entering the drug market. But it is impossible to ban them immediately. Because first, these substances must undergo a series of examinations, and in laboratories not only of the State Drug Control Service, but also of the Ministry of Health and Social Development. After the experts make a conclusion that the substance can be classified as a drug, the approval stage begins. How the Russian bureaucratic machine works is no secret to anyone. Correspondence between departments alone can last for months.

“And a ban requires a special government decree.” As a result, efficiency decreases,” sums up Kartashov. – So the mechanism for making such decisions needs to be changed. Well, besides, if there is a ban, we need to move on to the concept of “derivatives from analogues.” After all, it also happens that manufacturers make substitutes based on already prohibited drugs.

Even the notorious spices with synthetic cannabinoids, banned last year after a series of scandalous publications in the media, have come out of hiding again. Now drug dealers sell them under the guise of fish food and fertilizer for flowers, involving young people in terrible experiments on their own lives.

our certificate

According to the Federal Drug Control Service, more than 100 thousand drug addicts under the age of 30 die in Russia every year. Just a few years ago, according to department statistics, 30 thousand people died from drug addiction per year.