ABSTRACT
A new treatment regime for heroin addiction has been established recently in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In reaction to the perceived failure of the Sverdlovsk Narcological Hospital, the local anti-drugs programme has been forcibly usurped by Uralmarsh, a syndicate of gangsters, which had previously concentrated successfully on crime. Supply reduction is now implemented energetically by abducting and beating up dealers. Their treatment philosophy is equally straightforward: ‘Our concept is that a drug addict is a wild beast, an animal, who cannot be treated with pity.’
