PRESS RELEASE

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Putin Calls for ‘Undermining the Economic Basis of Drug Trafficking’ and Stopping Legalization

April 29, 2017 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired an April 28 meeting of Russia’s Security Council, which focused on the drug issue. Putin said that, official numbers aside, opinion polls indicate that in Russia "about 7.5 million people take drugs, including 2 million regular drug users." He reported that, although the officially registered drug-dependent users has remained constant over the past five years, "the number of underage drug addicts has soared by 60%." He then made two key policy points: 1) you have to hit drug finances; and 2) legalization must be combated.

"It is critical to undermine the economic basis of drug trafficking, which is a source of financial support for terrorist and extremist groups, as is known.... [It is important to] also make the international public aware of our position that it is unacceptable to liberalize the international legal regime for drugs."