Russia introduces drug tests for schoolchildren

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill detailing the psychological and medical tests on young people suspected of drug abuse.

The tests would be voluntary and comprise two stages. The first
is a written psychological test, followed by medical checks to
find traces of illegal drugs in their bodies.

If experts find schoolchildren are using illegal drugs, they
would be sent to a rehab centre. 

Children younger than 15 will need the consent of their parents
before the tests can be carried out.

Many Russian regions have already introduced tests at a local
level. Everywhere the tests for illegal drugs are voluntary. The
federal law was drafted in November last year and passed by
parliament in late May this year.

The anti-drug program has already caused controversy — in some
places parents were asked to sign their consent but were not told
the details of the test. In others, critics pointed at the
insufficient protection of the highly sensitive information and
potential damage if the results of the tests (or even the names
of those who refused to take them) become public.

Some also pointed at the apparently lax approach by the experts —
one of the questions was reportedly a direct “have you ever
inhaled gasoline or acetone for the sake of unusual experience’ —
something that young children might see as an instruction, rather
than a warning.

According to a recent poll among Russians aged 11 to 24, about a
quarter had tried illegal drugs usually between the ages of 15
and 16.

The overall number of drug addicts is difficult to estimate —
while the number of officially registered patients in rehabs and
clinics is about 500,000, experts estimate that the real number
of people who regularly use illegal drugs is between between two
and two-and-a-half million.

Russia has a fairly strict drug policy and President
Vladimir Putin again spoke against the so called “soft drugs” in
a recent speech saying that their legalization in certain
countries was “a dangerous path”.

This article originally appeared on: RT