Drug policy research in the Slovak Republic
24. 6. 2016 | 2462 visits
Sunday 26 June was International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Dr Robert Klobucký from the Slovak Academy of Sciencesʼ Institute for Sociology has been analysing drug issues since 1989.
Dr Klobucký, who is the head of a project entitled Drug policy in the Slovak Republic and other countries, is investigating, among other things, why drug policy in Slovakia is more repressive when compared to other European countries, especially the Czech Republic. "There is a huge difference and we used to be one country. The last five to six years, extremely different legislation has been in force," Dr Klobucký said. In his opinion, there are some obvious reasons for this: more conservative public opinion, the dominance of departments promoting law with regard to the creation of drug policy and different experiences with drugs in both countries.
"Even during socialism the Czech Republic had more experience of illicit drugs than the Slovak Republic. It was specifically the Czechs who heated up pervitin. At that time, it was not a matter of organized crime with the aim of making a profit, it was something connected more with the community of drug addicts," the sociologist explains. At the same time, he adds that the Slovak experience was from the very beginning connected with Balkan organized crime, which dominated heroin distribution in the 90s. In Slovakia, at that time, many young people were on heroin and often paid for their addiction with their life. From the very beginning drugs in Slovakia were seen as a deadly danger spread by foreign mafiosi.
In comparison with the 90s, it has been established that heroin has become less popular. However, pervitin and marijuana are widespread and their distribution and production often comes under the control of organized crime. In the opinion of Dr Klobucký, new synthetic drugs in particular are a time bomb. In this regard, it always takes some time for their negative impacts to be analyzed and for them to be put on the list of prohibited substances. The scientist also warns that information regarding the spread of drugs can be distorted by fact that people do not admit drug use in opinion polls. At the moment the most reliable method of finding out the scale of drug use is, in his opinion, an analysis of waste water, which has been carried out in Slovakia by scientists from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (SUT) since 2013. The scientist claims that the biggest difference between poll research and the analysis of water was detected with regard to cocaine users.
In his research, Dr Klobucký cooperates with the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs, which collects information on drug use and coordinates anti-drugs policy in the Slovak Republic. It is responsible for reporting yearly on the situation in Slovakia, which then serves as part of a pan-European study. This yearʼs study was published at the end of May 2016 and is freely available. It includes health statistics from which emerge the death rate, the number of people treated for particular drugs and the statistics of prosecutors and police.
The Centre also deals with research into public opinion. "Respondents are asked questions not only regarding drug use but also whether they would be able to obtain a drug, the perceived negative effects of particular drugs and their opinion on drug addicts," explains Dr Klobucký, who collaborates with the Centre on the analysis and evaluation of the survey, and sometimes on its design. A complex mosaic of the drug situation in Slovakia can be made out of the data, together with information from interviews with people with an interest in the creation of drug policy as well as people who work with drug addicts. This can be useful for laypeople as well as experts and legislators.
Zuzana Vitková
Dr Klobucký, who is the head of a project entitled Drug policy in the Slovak Republic and other countries, is investigating, among other things, why drug policy in Slovakia is more repressive when compared to other European countries, especially the Czech Republic. "There is a huge difference and we used to be one country. The last five to six years, extremely different legislation has been in force," Dr Klobucký said. In his opinion, there are some obvious reasons for this: more conservative public opinion, the dominance of departments promoting law with regard to the creation of drug policy and different experiences with drugs in both countries.
"Even during socialism the Czech Republic had more experience of illicit drugs than the Slovak Republic. It was specifically the Czechs who heated up pervitin. At that time, it was not a matter of organized crime with the aim of making a profit, it was something connected more with the community of drug addicts," the sociologist explains. At the same time, he adds that the Slovak experience was from the very beginning connected with Balkan organized crime, which dominated heroin distribution in the 90s. In Slovakia, at that time, many young people were on heroin and often paid for their addiction with their life. From the very beginning drugs in Slovakia were seen as a deadly danger spread by foreign mafiosi.
In comparison with the 90s, it has been established that heroin has become less popular. However, pervitin and marijuana are widespread and their distribution and production often comes under the control of organized crime. In the opinion of Dr Klobucký, new synthetic drugs in particular are a time bomb. In this regard, it always takes some time for their negative impacts to be analyzed and for them to be put on the list of prohibited substances. The scientist also warns that information regarding the spread of drugs can be distorted by fact that people do not admit drug use in opinion polls. At the moment the most reliable method of finding out the scale of drug use is, in his opinion, an analysis of waste water, which has been carried out in Slovakia by scientists from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (SUT) since 2013. The scientist claims that the biggest difference between poll research and the analysis of water was detected with regard to cocaine users.
In his research, Dr Klobucký cooperates with the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs, which collects information on drug use and coordinates anti-drugs policy in the Slovak Republic. It is responsible for reporting yearly on the situation in Slovakia, which then serves as part of a pan-European study. This yearʼs study was published at the end of May 2016 and is freely available. It includes health statistics from which emerge the death rate, the number of people treated for particular drugs and the statistics of prosecutors and police.
The Centre also deals with research into public opinion. "Respondents are asked questions not only regarding drug use but also whether they would be able to obtain a drug, the perceived negative effects of particular drugs and their opinion on drug addicts," explains Dr Klobucký, who collaborates with the Centre on the analysis and evaluation of the survey, and sometimes on its design. A complex mosaic of the drug situation in Slovakia can be made out of the data, together with information from interviews with people with an interest in the creation of drug policy as well as people who work with drug addicts. This can be useful for laypeople as well as experts and legislators.
Zuzana Vitková