cos it does seem to disappear. now russia has become the biggest consumer of afghan heroin according to the latest u.n. report with triple the about trafficked into the country back to the u.s. and canada put together russia is that the narcotics chief the office the chair in our spotlight interview with al gore. will do the. cheap experience with nobel prizes so people who are going to see the temperature more you mention structures get microscopic make over and it can take us a long way to feet of metal comes into focus. on technology update here on a look we've got the future.

hello again and welcome to thoughts like the show on r.t. . today my guest in the studio is victor even. a u.n. report says forty thousand russians die annually from drug addicts that's more than the overall number of soldiers killed during the war in afghanistan but since the russians are out of afghanistan the country has become the leading role producer of . much of the drug being sent to pressure is the problem going to be so here's the

head of the russian federal drug control service. at the beginning of the year russia shared with the u.s. secret data on the location of several drug labs in afghanistan moscow wanted the allies to destroy them but action was a long time coming last month coalition forces together with the russian anti-drug security officers and the afghan police dismantled three heroin labs and destroyed an opium plantation the successful joint operation could have taken over two hundred million hits out of the chain with a street value of billions of dollars experts say this counter strike is a clear sign of a successful reload whole relations with the us drug and forces and the russian drug control service is ready to reinforce the afghan police with staff to train drug fighting troops. many thanks for coming to our show. welcome to russia today. recently the u.s.

security service and your service along with their afghan counterparts carried out a joint operation in afghanistan to destroy a drug lab at the same time as far as i know. because i said and i quote the first dissipation of the russian federal drug control service in the operation in afghanistan was a violation of the country's sovereignty one quote he was not happy about being warned how can you explain this. as a matter of fact last week president karzai had a telephone conversation with the president during which she reaffirmed the need to destroy in a quarter century in the records it so happened that he had not been informed in time that the operation was going to start although the operation had been prepared a long time ago with three states involved another close to this time from russian foreign minister lavrov. was directed to providing information to help locate go

aboard three heroin and morphine were manufactured so two points at once the first lover of confirmed we had not qualitative gastown sovereignty and then where does the information come from is it your job to acquire such information and yes indeed we do obtain information about the location of such laborde sreesanth try to provide it to the forces in afghanistan. first of all the afghan authorities and also the coalition forces for them to efficiently respond as promptly as possible if you live. separately was the verification done through satellite or agents. it's done by the authorities both military and security services for instance the americans use about one hundred employees of the drug enforcement administration because it's a major force with huge operational capacity. if we consider

what you have said about the two presidents conversation there is no lack of understanding and afghanistan is ready to continue causing ration i think still does this mean that joint operate. by the coalition and russia will be repeated in the future. absolutely speaking to present preventive. reaffirmed the work should be continued. so are your services currently present in afghanistan. yes three of our representatives are stationed there only for a while this number be increased i do think our presentation in afghanistan should be bigger than they have been on the radio that you're even going to set up a representative office in afghanistan the large mission. for this wishes must match all possibilities we would need specialists who speak the

local languages and dialects and service officers which means that the issue needs work. it's just that in order to have more operational freedom we need more officers. tell me is it painful when you start talking about the subject from the point of view of combat drugs this evil. that implies that our presence in afghanistan will have to be increased. people start asking you why are we going there again but. you know such speculation does emerge sometimes but you must bear in mind that afghanistan has signed a cooperation agreement with russia just on a governmental level in two thousand and nine when our foreign minister signed into department told agreement is that envisages joint work aimed at eliminating drug

trafficking. you've been reported as warning quite a number of times drug lords and the drug mafia are very strong. but you have been saying that it's a very strong work. of any kind of revenge be taken against your service or against russia. should russia start to. destroy this business afghanistan. well those who have to tom military uniform and signed up to fulfill their duty is should not have any fear if they do they should seek another occupation of. russian citizens who they may become the target of possible attacks. we have to understand that the current economy of afghanistan is based on hundred and forty two enterprises. built with the participation of country there is no other legal economy in afghanistan as

a matter of fact therefore. the russian government and the president have openly stated that will keep on giving economic assistance to afghanistan. russia is going to inspect goods transported through its territory to see if there are any drugs. does this mean it will be assumed that the nato convoy could be used for drug trafficking. well you know what abuse of power can be found in any organization or service but i don't think that such serious organizations as nato countries as the usa or european countries would sanction drug trafficking. we don't think so. not in my competence it's up to the government the defense ministry customs. service is. very interesting thing very often. people say to

the americans advent to. the americans may even be helping them. you don't think so yourself. there's a global effort concentrated there with the russia taking pot judo having voted for the security forces to be present. this coincided with an increase in drug manufacturing so it became obvious that the efforts of the world community proved unbalanced while we got carried away with. so it's incorrect to claim a truth for all that. absolutely the coalition troops are going to leave afghanistan which has been in the media do you think the situation with drug trafficking will change either for the better or for the worse. well let's wait for

the withdrawal and then say it was your forecast so far we have been monitoring how the resolutions of the longer nam campbell conferences are being implemented concerning a peaceful settlement in afghanistan. and the recent interview you said that the drug pressure on russia from abroad is still growing does this mean that this alarming trend which was there when you assumed office is not yet overcome. fortunately and this is a fact. the large scale production of drugs in afghanistan continues and besides opiates and heroin afghanistan has constantly occupied the first place in hashish production to live in morocco behind. as we see afghanistan is the top producer of two kinds of. these amounts can't even be sold as they exceed market

demand according to all estimates two thirds of than a quarter manufactured us toward kind of reserved for generations to come. so this problem is very complex. even if some seasons don't yield enough crops was the case last summer for instance you know so many of them those reserves will come of the demand. in other words the drug barons are provided with the raw materials no worse than we are with wheat. the problem is that the number of drug barons grows every year more and more people are getting involved in drug trafficking transiting and accompanying the supply. he should never said that let me quote more from what you've said here of these events in kyrgyzstan showed the narco cartels do not only crave power they're also capable of destabilizing the situation and. unquote. what is russia undertaking to combat

drug trafficking from central asia and i think what the city. lol what the source of all this problem has reached international dimensions we suggest today's global phenomenon of the ghana stand drug trafficking should be legally defined as a threat to global peace and security because up to sixty five billion dollars are illegally made in afghanistan he said of the dollar. the money can be instantly transferred from one point in the world to another through electronic payment machines so they can secondly we proposed making out a canister of land used tuesday grown a kartik plants on it so as to confiscate the land from those owners and pass it on for proper peaceful use voicing what puzzled so several serious measures to make a serious impact as there was just says that it could given all head of the russian

federal drug control that spotlight will be back shortly after the break will continue in less than a minute self stay with them the. wealthy british style. market why not. come then. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max conjure for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. close. to the times. where rich academic life gives birth to innovative ideas. archie

goes to the area which together with boosting industrial development. offers to make a journey into russia's history. and to enjoy firsts and vivid cultural life. welcome to the pair and region in russia. on archie. welcome back to spotlight i'm al gore and often just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is the victim if i left head of the russian federal drug control service this point of. arnold schwarzenegger admitted in an interview to g.q. that he thought marijuana was just too soft or caught at that can even be

considered a. fake and that he doubled in smoke and it's when he was young that is a rather widespread point of view there's a serious trend in the world that such lie drugs as they are considered should no longer be all clogged they should be legalized what's your take on that. and you know around toby twentieth i happened to visit california. that was just in the middle of a campaign aimed at legalizing marijuana. at the same time i was aware of washington's view since my counterpart mr kelly koskie had informed me about the campaign being in full swing so washington is against it right strongly yes i want to say that the results of the complain showed california was against the legalization even california biliteral california apparently of the opinion of the

state did not coincide with that of the governor. it's nothing more than a p.r. move by politicians who want to demonstrate they're being. thrown through or are they serious. a serious discussion is going on and i can even assume that some of the supporters are paid for by drug barons see saw was quite surprised to see the entire los angeles covered with posters saying if you have medical problems you can obtain marijuana at the following address. many countries is rather loyal it also shows an even more radical viewpoint in europe but the head of the moon commission human rights tom koenig's appealed for legalizing all narcotic drugs in general you must know that in his words and i quote that will decrease the use of narcotics and will ease the crime situation is it also p.r. or does he say that in earnest i think the opinion of tom koenig's does not

coincide with the absolute majority of public opinion in europe and i am sure of that was the point of a politician saying things that don't correspond to public opinion for money. you have to trust that politician really even in the netherlands where mary easily legal and is sold in coffee shops. even the netherlands is beginning to toughen its legislation by legalizing the gave birth to a phenomena like it's not a tourism so drug that it's headed there thus having increased the crime rate in that country. let's see if russia is ready to legalize drugs spotlights one of the has tried to find out. hey there wolf our experts believe that a bit of the so-called lie drugs this country doesn't decrease drug users but instead creates a better conditions but dealers. let's try to find out if people think that this like drugs should be legalized in russia. because people get addicted today that

you slide drugs tomorrow they will start using heavy ones because i don't think we should yes i'm against any form of drugs i think you can enjoy life without any bad habits. no and i think that those who sell produce and somehow deal with drugs should be sentenced to death like is done in some other countries and they're missing us but of course because we use them and there is nothing wrong with it. no asp and years working on drug problems and i know that any drug least join addiction and makes any user who does like drugs which into heavy ones we can follow the example of other countries because our mentality is different in our borders less protected i mean the drugs flow into the country there are many of the group arrived i think we should do it like it was done in germany when those who are addicted to heavy drugs can legally get them the clinics that in turn leads to a decrease in crime. which we're going to have

a hard question. so will lie drugs ever be legalized in russia. so here's the question will drugs be ever legalized in russia at least the light ones can you please answer explicitly that but you know. let me tell you something quite sensational drugs have been already legalized here. you mean there's no criminal prosecution for using our current drugs you know there is no criminal prosecution for using the drugs which was decided on back in one thousand nine hundred ninety by the so-called commission for constitutional supervision. it's a different matter the distribution of narcotic drugs is subject to criminal prosecution as for using it's legal and i think we have to think. conflict drugs are banned from being produced. they are allowed to be taken.

by drugs you can use them. to buy because a deal has two aspects any who bears the criminal responsibility. for the rehabilitation of a drug addict may lead to a drug war for the super profitable drugs market. so far has been. created. or does are entirely. activists trying to fight. it is a very important question. in this country we have the. drug

addicts. term treatment is ordinary but. it should have a number of stages including detoxification treating psychopathic disturbances psychiatric help medical rehab litigation social rehabilitation and gratian of the drug addict back into society but this chain of stages should be continuous why is it important because unless we cure drug addicts. to engage from fifteen to twenty and sometimes up to thirty. creating a situation as they are right. as long as i am alive. grief so they must be treated when cured. discontinue is having a negative impact on society. when a patient is in remission it's the more so probable that he or she can likely do that unfortunately we can say there is a big army of drug addicts who generate more drug addicts well there's been

a nationwide debate into drug rehabilitation following a recent court case in russia and drag activist was forcing addicts into rehab support life even to me the vast more. than the city of new deal was arrested in march last year who was charged with kidnapping and the illegal detention of substance abusers which coveted on orders of addict parents who saw no other way to kill their children radical. methods used in beach close clinic included handcuffing an addict to his bed for several days after which go for sentenced to three and a half years in prison the court's ruling caused the nationwide outcry which of supporters insist he's treatment methods were effective the activist carried out over two hundred operations against drug dealers. to believe the case could have

been prompted by the drug last year the public debate grew so strong president medvedev chose to get involved he has asked the state prosecutors to take a closer look at the case as a result of sentence was overturned and his prison term suspended. case the historic question of whether the means justifies the end. of a historically russian discussion about what's more important fairness the lawfulness what is your personal. as a human being standing on side with society i understand that cough was doing the right thing for a good cause but as a lawyer present it if i understand he broke the law. so it's obvious that the court ruling which has come into force about a suspended term of imprisonment is right beside so we have to draw an important

conclusion from this case and will consider these conclusions at a session of the state anti-drug committee concerning the situation which actually gave birth to this phenomenon. since it is a kind of uncontrolled reaction of society to the problem which is the problem it's about forced yes can it be legalized i would like to emphasize one detail we have talked to the mothers whose children have become a drug addict but some of them said they would bring them to drug clinics maybe seven times they would detoxify but would return to their activity and the parents in their desperation turn to you good witch go off for help and treatment. what's more many address me as head of the service for me to imprison their children and them taking drugs. that means that rove forced treatment will be legalized.

object. but well you see. the measures are off the degree of enforcement should be adequate to the problem as of today we must create such conditions that would allow creating a treatment process. but nowadays for instance france and other countries ban taking drugs so criminal investigations are instituted but instead of being punished drug addicts are treated. and they choose between prison and treatment. i think it's a good. enforcement mechanism. and there is no need to use medical so bill. thank you very much for being with us in just a reminder that my guest here in the studio today was that he was the head of the russian federal documents and that's it for now from all of us will be back with

more first hand comment on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on the party and take care president.

for the feel we've got. the biggest issues good voice face to face with the news makers. the news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to look for asian to rule the day.

the russian president says his country understands this democracy is imperfect but that the system is on the wipe out the transformation in the latest on line video blog dmitri medvedev calls for more political competition to avoid stagnation. little student protests once again turn violent as thousands mobilize against university for the rises and education cuts intensifies and other european union countries over crippling stared measures to save the ailing euro. and artie travels to central asia to look at what's being done to bring back to life the dried out desert with used to be a seat of the soviet union's drinking age was for a call to the cultivation devastated the once retreat or cost of the sea to disappear. at next they'll be on the show from our washington studios which today asks how much americans really care about their privacy with a new.