MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 80 tonnes of narcotics have been withdrawn from illegal trafficking in Russia in 2006, head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Cherkesov told journalists on Tuesday.
"Over 82 tonnes of narcotics were confiscated in Russia over the past ten months. The service confiscated more than one billion average doses," he said.
"We do not stop. The confiscation of narcotics is one of the most effective ways to inflict damage on the drug business," he said, adding that large batches of heroin were confiscated from Russia's 'black market' as well.
There is a dangerous trend "evolving as a result of marketing efforts by the drug business. Users tend to move toward synthetic drugs, which they consider less dangerous than heroin, but this is an illegal trick," Cherkesov said.
For example, trimethylfentanyl, a synthetic drug, is many times stronger and more dangerous than heroin, he said.
The confiscation of large batches of narcotics is "a blow to the 'black economy,' which allows to reduce the amount of drugs," he said. "The lesser the amount of drugs available, the more chances there are that young people will not get involved in the use of drugs," he said.
According to the service's data, there are six million drug users in Russia, while 15 million have tried drugs at least once.