Debate in the State Duma: Radio Liberty is hooking Russia on drugs following the example of Ukraine

Western-funded media are participating in covert drug propaganda in Russia according to a scenario previously tested in Ukraine.

This was stated by State Duma deputies during a discussion of the new law, which provides for punishment of up to 15 years of imprisonment for promoting drugs on the Internet, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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United Russia member Andrei Alshevskikh, who presented the bill, said that the activities of Western media in promoting drugs are recorded by a commission charged with countering foreign interference in the affairs of the Russian Federation.

“The commission came to the attention of materials from foreign media and non-governmental organizations, the main goal of which, we believe, is to persuade as many of our citizens, mainly young people, as possible to drug use. Theses are being circulated on the Internet that “no one has the right to prohibit” the use of drugs, “this is freedom of choice,” is fashionable and modern.

We discovered how the American propaganda resource Radio Liberty broadcast via the Internet an uncoordinated action to legalize marijuana, the so-called “hemp march.” This action took place in St. Petersburg. The result was a massive distribution of marijuana seeds to participants.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the commission has many examples of the destructive use of the Internet to induce drug use, to put it mildly... In fact, we see an emerging system of inducement to drug use using information and telecommunication technologies. First, advertising of drug use, then instructions on how to evade responsibility for drug trafficking, and finally, thirdly, substitution therapy for drug addicts,” Alshevskikh said.

Deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Aleksey Kurinny clarified what the situation will be with methadone, which is prohibited in Russia but used for therapeutic purposes abroad:

“As for methadone therapy and substitution therapy, I would like to remind you that our country is one of the few that does not recognize this therapy as a treatment method. Moreover, this even contradicts WHO recommendations. I am sure that, sooner or later, we will come to this anyway. Will the promotion of methadone therapy, including by experts (many of our experts believe that it should be used), be equated with the promotion of drug use as such? Although this is one of the treatment methods, although not officially recognized in the Russian Federation,” Kurinny said.

Alshevskikh responded to this that there are no plans to allow methadone in the near future: “When we decide that it is good, and it will be, then we will discuss it and make amendments, somehow correct it. As of today, this is not the case and is unlikely to happen.”

He was supported by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya. She is a negative experience from neighboring Ukraine.

“As for methadone therapy, in general, this is the most harmful form of working with drug addicts. And the fact that it was introduced in Ukraine, it was later used as a means of influencing the behavior of the younger generation, because drug addicts stood in line with the state, no matter how monstrous it sounds, to receive drugs. And, God forbid, that something like this ever appears in Russia. Therefore, all references to some kind of experience, Canada, Ukraine - we do not need such experience,” Yarovaya said.