Reassessing the “Drug-Free Country”

Ideologists and enforcers of contemporary Russian drug policy seem to perceive the Soviet Union as an ideal model of drug-free society. One of the purposes of this paper is to provide a fresh, challenging, and stimulating account on drug abuse, drug treatment, and drug policy in the Soviet Union. Shattering the common notion that ‘there were no drugs in the Soviet Union,’ the paper will improve our understanding of Russia’s socialist past and also argue for the discarding of obsolete concepts that still tend to greatly influence contemporary Russian drug policy.