Number of Armenian drug addicts grows by 50 percent a year- chief narcologist

YEREVAN, November 12. / ARKA /. The number of officially registered injection drug users in Armenia in 2012 increased by about 30 percent from the previous year to 4,332, according to Suren Nazinyan, the head of the Center for Monitoring of Drug Abuse and Addiction, who presented today the results of the National Drug Report - 2013. 

He said in previous years the growth was 50 percent. He said also in 2012 health authorities reported 663 new cases of drug addiction, including 12 cases involving women. The bulk of drug addicts are aged 28-49.

The chief state narcologist of Armenia, Petros Semerjian added that about 20 thousand ethnic Armenians living in Russia are drug addicts. He said many Armenian labor migrants in Russia bring drugs to Armenia. 

"Drug addiction is developing very quickly and to overcome it is extremely difficult,” he said.

Mr. Semerjian stressed that Armenian doctors can cure any type of drug addiction at any stage of the disease. But he added that as many as 50 percent of people receiving treatment at Armenian narcological clinics and dispensaries go back to using narcotics. 

“People return to their old place of residence, old friends, the same entourage, and they repeat what they did before,” he explained.

Drawing parallels with other countries, Semerjian noted that Armenia, despite the growth of drug abuse, remains among the countries with the lowest rate of drug addicts. He said the neighboring Georgia has about 400 thousands drug addicts and Iran - about 4 million .-0-