The Federal Drug Control Service will make sure that recently banned narcotics such as datura are not disguised for retail as innocuous goods, chief Viktor Ivanov assured Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
This is by no means the first attempt to ban aromatic narcotic mixtures marketed as simple products. There had been an attempt to put spice (a synthetic cannabis) on the list of narcotics, but on the first occasion, the criteria for the ban turned out to be too vague, so that suppliers could solve all their problems by simply changing the labels. The new exhaustive list of banned components will enable the Drug Control Service to classify salvia leaf, Hawaiian rose seeds, blue lotus flowers, and 20 synthetic hallucinogens as serious narcotics.
These plants in themselves are no more harmful than daisies. But when mixed in certain proportions, they are mind-expanding drugs. However, it is one thing to impose a ban and it is another thing to respond promptly and competently to what is happening in real life.
"We have a good many enterprising people who think of nothing but their own gain," Vladimir Putin commented. "So we should not allow anyone to stick a different label on the same goods that they used to sell or add some trifle to enable them to continue doing what they have been doing until now."
"Operational work and detective work is being carried out for this purpose," Viktor Ivanov tried to reassure the Prime Minister. "We use so-called spectrographs to carry out the chemical tests."
Incidentally, sanctions will be tough. According to the head of the Drug Control Service, they will be the same as "for marijuana, heroine, and cocaine." Sanctions will depend on the amounts of the stuff sold. However, by cutting this "narcotic Gordian knot," the authorities are unlikely to solve the problem in one fell swoop. Spice and similar "herbal concoctions" have long been absolutely legal and have become as much part of daily life for many people as coffee and a cigarette for breakfast. Some, but not all, will kick the bad habit. And if there is demand, underground suppliers will always be found.
Anastasia Savinykh