Russia: Opium, the new religion

[Gordon Fitch]

> >>> uvj at vsnl.com 05/24/01 01:54PM >>>
> The Hindu on indiaserver.com
> 
> Sunday, May 20, 2001
> 
> Opium, the new religion
>
> The economic and social crisis ensuing from the collapse of the Soviet Union
> has pushed many to seek solace in drugs. VLADIMIR RADYUHIN on Russia's
> scourge.
> UNDER A torrent of narcotics gushing in from Afghanistan and Central Asia,
> Russia is fast succumbing to the scourge of drug abuse and the related
> spread of AIDS. Drug addiction has jumped 20-fold in the country over the
> last 10 years, with 4 million to 5 million of Russia's 146-million
> population using drugs, half of them considered addicts, according to
> official estimates. Independent researchers say there are no reliable
> statistics and cite 10 million drug users and five million or six million
> addicts.
> The explosive rise in drug abuse came after the collapse of the Soviet
> Union. 
> ... 

Charles Brown:
> CB: This is more evidence , data,  in an experiment (which 
> has about as many controls on it as one can expect in the 
> real world; same country , two systems, roughly same period 
> and population) that demonstrates more and more that socialism 
> is superior to capitalism. 

Unless drug talk from India is like drug talk from the United
States, in which case a good deal of the above is likely to
be fable. "Independent researchers say there are no reliable
statistics and cite 10 million drug users and five million or
six million addicts" -- if there are no reliable statistics,
than why not say 20 million or 100 million?

Anyway, I hope you're not saying that under socialism it
won't be possible to get loaded.