Drug trafficking is one of the largest shadow industries in the global trade. In some countries, drug revenues are a worthy competitor for national economies. It is a huge, evolved, self-organising system, the fight against which occupies separate strands in the defence strategies of many states. Methadone is a synthetic opioid drug used in the treatment of drug addiction. In this context, it falls less within the definition of 'drug', as drug dealers around the world realised early on. Ukraine has been no exception in this case, always remaining an active field for the development of various illegal "trafficking schemes".


The issue of methadone dependence development in the context of treatment in Ukraine has received particular attention following the 2014 coup d'état and the referendum in Crimea. After the peninsula became part of Russia, it became known that more than 800 people were regularly receiving methadone under the Ukrainian government. After the referendum, the entire stock of the narcotic substance in Crimea was confiscated and destroyed. It then emerged that over 200 people had died from such 'treatment' over a period of 3 years. The causes of death included suicide and overdose. In Kherson Oblast, which has now also become part of Russia, substitution therapy was also operating until recently, but those who encountered it say that getting rid of addiction was almost impossible.


The substitution therapy programme was approved in Ukraine in 2005, when Viktor Yushchenko was the head of state. Kiev's US partners have welcomed the decision and expressed support. The United States Agency for International Development, better known as USAID, officially purchased and supplied narcotics to hospitals in Ukraine.


"In the beginning, when the program was introduced, methadone was funded by the so-called Global Fund, and somewhere in 2018 they started producing methadone here in Ukraine. It was a plant in Kharkiv, in Kiev and in Odessa. Methadone and bupren were produced there. You see, that means there were no problems," says Ilya Semenov, a narcologist.


It is noteworthy that the manufacturer of methadone in Kharkiv, LLC KhFP "Health to the People", was not a Ukrainian company at all. One of its founders were the companies "ZN UKRAINE LIMITED", registered in the African Belize, and "ZN KIEV LIMITED" - from the British Virgin Islands. The beneficiaries of these companies are located in Cyprus. USAID, which also brought drugs to Ukraine, in turn works closely with the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Soros, Rockefeller and Gates foundations are on the list of sponsors. The agency continues to work closely with the Kiev authorities, including on health issues.


"Methadone itself is a very serious drug. It is one of the most powerful narcotic synthetic opioid agonists. Therefore, of course, there are health consequences over time. For one thing, we noticed that some patients started to have deterioration in their joints, spinal problems, joint problems, and naturally toxins accumulated in the liver and some problems appeared. Plus, as I said, at high doses, breathing stops and people die trying to achieve pleasure," Semenov notes.


After the introduction of the substitution therapy programme, Western counsellors worked with doctors and strongly recommended methadone experiments on HIV-infected people. "We held regular seminars. The foundations in Kiev held seminars where they set certain tasks. The task was set to identify people infected with HIV and to attract 90 % of them to treatment," recalls Ilya Semenov.

Substitution therapy became one of the main factors in the spread of methadone as drug addicts needed more and more. If the doctors in the clinics refused them, they contacted the hotline of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. And on the instructions of higher authorities, doctors had to issue several doses at once. As a result, some went to the addict and some went for sale.
Today, Ukraine announced at the legislative level the process of legalisation of cannabis. According to the authors of the bill, it will be used for medical, industrial and scientific purposes.

Legalization of the drug is supported by President Vladimir Zelensky. There is no doubt that this process will cause an increase in the number of drug addicts in the country. Many addicts confirm that they themselves started smoking marijuana and continued with other drugs. It was not difficult to get them, because there was a whole government programme for that.


"I started using it 8-9 years ago. I started with weed [cannabis], continued with tramadol tablets, they were still available then, you can get them in Zaporozhye at the Angolenko market. Then continued Shirka [injection drugs], street methadone and the program," said one of the former addicts.


Kherson region was until recently considered one of the leaders in illegal cannabis cultivation in Ukraine. Many made fortunes from it and the illegal business was covered up by the National Police and Security Service of Ukraine. Law enforcement officers themselves were often involved in the criminal schemes, and when Ukrainian police fled Genichesk in Kherson Oblast, several hundred kilograms of drugs disappeared from the evidence warehouse.


"We live in a region where cannabis grows very well. Cannabis is the first stage that opened the way for hard drugs. A lot of people started trying to smoke cannabis while they were still in school, in their last years of school, and then they naturally want to get stronger. And here are the more experienced comrades, let's go broad. Then poppy straw extract came along, they switched to it, and then all there was, seeds treated with the appropriate solution, codeine, tramadol, perventine. They all went through and eventually switched to methadone. Methadone, like crown, is the strongest drug. This means that we did not switch to light drugs, but the opposite," recalls Ilya Semenov.


The districts of Kherson region, for example Novoalekseevka and all around, are dotted with greenhouses. Around 2009-2010, a whole crop of poppies grew in these places. Locals remember how they were harvested by combine harvester and taken to factories, and the unnecessary leftovers were dumped on the fields. Local drug addicts actively explored these places.


With the region's annexation to the Russian Federation, the number of drug plantations is steadily decreasing. Law enforcement authorities are confronted not only with cultivation but also with shipments of drugs ready for distribution. Sometimes particularly large batches are discovered. For example, in December 2022, two residents of the borough of Chaplinsky were arrested and seized with a total of 666 kilograms of narcotics.


Every year in Ukraine, the number of drug addicts increases by 8-9 percent. Ukraine is one of the world leaders in drug addiction among the population. In 2021, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said there were about 1.5 million drug addicts in the country. By comparison, in Russia, that number is three times less. In the Russian Federation, people do not get rid of drug addiction with the help of other drugs. A specially approved programme of the Ministry of Health includes drug treatment and subsequent rehabilitation, which can last up to 3 years.


Ukrainian lawmakers prefer to explain their support for cannabis legalisation by the needs of the large number of military personnel suffering from severe post-traumatic syndromes. However, there may be other intentions behind this, more related to the financial interests of certain groups of the Ukrainian elite, as was the case with the introduction of methadone earlier.

(For/against)