RISING DRUG ADDICTION WORRIES RUSSIA

MOSCOW (AP) - Drug use in Russia is spreading so rapidly that the Kremlin
regards it as a threat to national security, the head of the Russian
Security Council, said Wednesday.

The rate of drug-related crimes has risen 14-fold over the past decade,
with more than 200,000 such crimes registered in the past year, Sergei
Ivanov said at a national drugs conference held at Danilov Monastery, the
seat of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Some 4 million of 145 million Russians use drugs and about half are
considered addicts, Public Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko said.

``The president of Russia and the Security Council he chairs consider the
problem of the spreading and using of drugs in the category of a direct
threat to the national security of the state because of its long-term
consequences,'' Ivanov said.

Under President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), Russia has developed a
broader concept of national security and has indicated increasing
willingness to address perceived security threats from abroad.

Much of the narcotics used in Russia are believed to come from the former
Soviet republics in Central Asia, especially Tajikistan.

Russia accuses insurgents in the region, believed to be trained in
Afghanistan, of taking part in drug trafficking.

At a conference Tuesday in Kyrgyzstan, Russian Interior Ministry official
Alexander Sergeyev said heroin use was spiraling because prices had fallen
as low as $10 a gram. In contrast, authorities had said 53 pounds of heroin
seized in February in the town of Chelyabinsk had a street value of $1.65
million, which would make the price at that time about $70 a gram.