Hi, all
We have been taking note of Russia's population crisis. Another crisis it is facing is escalating rates of heroin addiction. According to Stack (2009), this has been exacerbated by the society's lack of experience with this problem, as it was relatively unknown in the Soviet era, combined with a boom in opium production in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of that nation.
While the US has endeavored to reign in opium production there, and there was, for a time, a drop in production, unfortunately as of now, it is showing an upward trend, with a 7% increase since 2013 (Latifi, 2014).
Since 2007, the flow of Afghan opium to Russia is described by officials there as a "tsunami," with 83 deaths reported per day (Stack, 2009) and the rate of addiction growing by leaps and bounds. The Russians are ill-equipped to deal with heroin addiction, as methadone, which is commonly used in the West to wean people of it, is illegal that country, and all sorts of experimental treatments (including dangerous and ineffective ones like removing parts of the brain) are being applied. Russian authorities described the addiction crisis as a national security issue and have granted the US airspace rights to pass military cargo through to
There are many aspects of this issue to consider, but one which I would especially note here is the interconnected nature of geopolitical matters (in other words, "globalization"), as the outcome of the US's efforts in Afghanistan has direct bearing