By Vestnik Kavkaza
Summer caused a discussion of children vacations and a struggle against vicious habits which young people can have.
At a press conference in Moscow the director of the Moscow Research Center of Drug Addiction, Yevgeniy Bryun, on measures to combat teenage consumption of alcohol, drugs and tobacco, which will be implemented this year in the summer camps.
According to him, “the Moscow government was concerned that this campaign should go without damage to the health of our children. Last week a meeting of the anti-drug commission in Moscow took place, where a campaign plan has been adopted, and a survey of the camps. It's no secret that a large army of group leaders will be involved. And it has been decided to test these people for drug use, in order to prevent to contact of any users with minors and children,” Bryun stated.
He also said that he heard from the media that the camps are hiring many people from other cities, including migrant workers, as workers in these summer camps. “According to our various regulations we also lead them through testing. In our experience of working with migrants we have not found a single drug user among them. This is very encouraging, it means that we get the best labour force from the neighboring republics. There have been no special problems in the previous years. I cannot say that there were some glaring problems with drug use in the summer camps.
But we realize that this is not only about drugs. There are various kiosks, shops that sell tobacco and alcohol around the summer camps. And we would like to take this opportunity, when children are all in one place, and we can come for a visit, to give some talks, including on the dangers of tobacco, smoking, to explain the laws that we have now in the Russian Federation. To explain why you should not smoke at school. That while flying on an airplane, a man does not die within 12 hours, and while at school for 6-8 hours, too, no one will die, and there is nothing wrong with that,” Bryun said.
He emphasized that the aim of the arrangements is to preserve children's health. “We want to reduce the economic burden of the state, related to alcohol, tobacco and drugs. This is a tremendous loss of three, according to various estimates, from three to five percent of GDP the country loses from these diseases. So, there is a lot to talk about.
Our research shows that 10% of high school students have a history of drug use, 30% have experience of alcohol and tobacco use, i.e. they consume regularly tobacco or alcohol - it is a big number. Of course, we cannot advise minors what to drink and how. Underage drinking is not allowed. By definition. Not only by law, but also by the biological mechanisms of development of the child's body,” the expert concluded.
