In Bulgaria, it proves to be a lot easier to approach a minister, the Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank or even the President with questions than the parents of a youth addicted to drugs. The usual answer is: “I do not want to talk about this”, while the most common question is: “Who is going to see or read this?”. There are also others that let themselves be convinced that sharing their experiences can help other victims but they often give up the idea in the very last moment too.

This is the general situation in a country in which 315 to 330 thousand people have tried some drug at least once in their lives (according to data in the 2007 Annual Report of the National Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction). To what reason can this refusal to share one’s experience with close friends and relatives of people addicted to drugs be attributed? In the public perception, the problem of drug addiction is one filled with myths and silence, solid opinions and prejudices, delusions and self-delusions, which are worth pointing out.

“Rich people get high on cocaine, poor people – on low-quality heroin”

“I want to become a spring, to live in quick motion”

“I will not become addicted – I will stop whenever I want”

“This cannot happen to me – my child does not do drugs!”

“The ones taking drugs are dangerous criminals”

“Any Bulgarian national is entitled to prophylaxis, therapy and rehabilitation in case of dependence”

“Rich people get high on cocaine, poor people – on low-quality heroin”

In the last few years in Bulgaria, a shift has been observed in the “preferences” of those taking drugs, as the experts think. The tide of heroin has gone, now marijuana and amphetamines have come in, says Dr Evelina Encheva, who has been working with drug addicts since 1997: first, in the National Center for Drug Addiction; then, for three years now, in a private methadone program. In parallel, a fall in the age group of people taking drugs has also been observed: 12- to 13-year-olds try stimulants, adds Lyubka Toleva, a social worker in a day care center for drug addicts for 9 years.

Their observations have been confirmed by the results of several studies carried out recently. According to data contained in the Annual Report of the National Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction for 2007, 5.2% of the people aged 18-60 years in the country have tried at least once some drug. Nine of every ten of them, however, are aged not more than 34 years. The biggest is the share of people that have tried drugs in the capital city, the most common drug being marijuana followed by synthetic drugs. Most strong is the interest in narcotics taken by pupils – there, every third pupil in the 9-12th grade has tried some drug. As the data about the number of pupils registered in child pedagogic rooms for distribution and use of drugs show, approximately 10 per cent are aged 8-14 years.

The results of a study carried out in 128 schools in the capital city by the Open Society Institute, published in June 2009, are similar. According to them, every fourth pupil in Sofia takes or has taken at least once the so-called “light drugs”. The study also shows that amphetamines are the preferred narcotic drugs by pupils.

More than 35.2 per cent, or about 75 000 of the students in Bulgaria, have tried some narcotic at least once in their lives, as another study shows, quoted in the 2007 Annual Report. Most preferred by them is marijuana, while the group of the synthetic stimulants – mostly, amphetamines and substances of the type of ecstasy – comes second. 6.5% of the students have taken amphetamines at least once in their lives, while 1.3% have done this in the last 30 days.

Young people, however, do not think of themselves as drug addicts: the use of amphetamines is part of their social culture, says Tsveta Raycheva, Director of the National Center for Drug Addiction.

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“I want to become a spring, to live in quick motion”

This was told to Lyubka Toleva by a young person who tried to explain his attraction to amphetamines. “With the pill, I see more colorfully”, claims 19-year-old Tsveta of Sofia, who was at the school desk but a month ago. And admits that it has never been difficult for her to find one – she obtained the “amphet” for 7 to 10 BGN, usually in the weekend in order to raise her spirits.

“They are of the group of the “stimulating” substances. Amphetamine is taken to stay full of life”, social worker Lyubka Toleva explains. “They give you more energy, you stay awake all night. They simply make you feel refreshed, stimulate you, you can go to a disco and dance all night without feeling tired after that”, 29-year-old Nikolay describes his experience with amphetamines.

The times when people with problems took drugs in order to break away from reality are about to fade. Nowadays, young people reach out for them in order to socialize. They say that in this way it is easier to establish contacts, they feel more confident, they ensure themselves intense experiences and are able to enjoy themselves at full speed in the course of days. This also accounts for the increased interest in “rising” synthetic stimulants, known as “party drugs”. In the higher age group, they are usually taken for stamina during periods of continued strenuous activity and increased concentration at work because they stimulate the central nervous system. They ensure alertness and capacity for work for up to 72 hours, suppress the feeling of hunger, cold and warmth. They are significantly cheaper than cocaine but have a similar effect, which makes them preferred and accessible to young people with more moderate financial capabilities. They seldom perceive amphetamine as a drug and do not expect negative consequences from its use.

Aggression, however, is very often observed among those taking amphetamines, says Dr Evelina Encheva. Dependence is also created – which is more psychological than physiological, as is the case with heroin – but there is dependence and can be treated primarily with the help of a psychologist. In addition, amphetamines are characterized by a large therapeutic tolerance, i.e. the organism quickly adapts to them and this often leads to overdosing. Once their effect is over, the body takes revenge for the artificial vitality and literally collapses, says Nikolay. Sometimes, after taking “stimulating” drugs for days on end, you are literally overexcited, you cannot go to sleep and you need something to “take you down”, says Lyubka Toleva. And, from this need to heroin, it takes only one step.

As a matter of fact, the young people that take only amphetamines are not too many. “What we observe is that, first, it starts with alcohol, irrespective of the age, then comes cannabis, afterwards amphetamines are taken from time to time, and, finally, there comes something else. At some point in time, your organism that has been fed on different types of substances ceases to feel the same feeling as the first time you have smoked grass, for example, and you are on the lookout for something stronger and stronger and, thus, reach the time when you start taking heroin. This is like a stairway which many of them climb”, Lyubka Toleva explains the psychology of dependence.

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“I will not become addicted – I will stop whenever I want”

“I will try only once”, said Nikolay to himself 13 years ago, duped by his friends who incessantly described him the “feeling”. He liked it the second time and, then, it became a ritual. They took mostly heroin but, in addition, they tried everything else: grass, amphetamines, cocaine.

Interviews with the growing-ups in various settlements confirm that the pressure of the circle of friends often becomes a reason to try drugs for the first time. A study of the District Council for Drugs in Kyustendil shows that the pupils in the town see drugs as one of the conditions to be accepted in a certain company. The other most common reasons are “out of curiosity” and “for fun”.

The data from a report on the town of Pernik, published in 2008, show that the most common reasons why pupils in the town take drugs are out of curiosity, for fun and out of boredom. The study covered 1231 pupils from the 9th to the 12th grade in 12 schools.

The bad environment in which they fall is one of the reasons why children start taking drugs, thinks Mariana Popova, who is a teacher in Velingrad. But she also explains that, in any case, she does not believe the family background to be the primary reason. In her 31 years’ practice as a teacher, she has witnessed a case where the parents of a child addicted to drugs were doctors who exercised strict control over their children but, nevertheless, this did not prevent the abuse of drugs. The child fell under the influence of the children next door with whom the boy grew up. According to her observations, the use of narcotic drugs is on the rise in the country. “In one small town, on one small street, we have two known cases of drug addiction and one child that has died of an overdose”, notes Ms. Popova.

Youth subcultures socialize drugs as an acceptable means for connection with others, claims social anthropologist Haralan Alexandrov. Probably, in any case of abuse of drugs, there is a certain unlocking factor but, purely psychologically, in most cases, the underlying reason is the deficit of human relations, he thinks. “Drugs are something that gives you the feel of significance, of value, gives you the feeling that you control the circumstances without having to walk the long way of overcoming yourself”, he explains. In a normal situation, one reaches the feeling of happiness and completeness in life through one’s professional realization, through self-development and engagement in things that are interesting and exciting, as well as through quality human relations. In the social territory, however, the failed attempts for self-assertion may become a subcultural norm, notes he. Thus, drugs become an intermediary between the members of communities characterized by retirement, social apathy and, very often, criminal behavior, the social anthropologist says.

“If the environment consists of people that do drugs, in order to remain in this environment, I must become like them. If I do not wish to be like them, I must walk away from this environment. But I somehow like them, I want to be with them and I am forced to, generally speaking. Not that someone forces me, but I see them, I know these people for so many years. They take amphetamines, smoke grass and are all right – they still go to school. Well, we cut lessons but, so what – everybody shirks school”, Lyubka Toleva explains the psychology of choice.

Now, after 11 years of dependence and 2 and a half years on methadone, 29-year-old Nikolay has realized that even after the first two tries he has already developed psychological dependence on the drug and that it has gradually changed him into a man without a future. “If one is accustomed to going out with friends, to having a girlfriend, at some point in time everything turns to 180 degrees. You wake up in the morning thinking that you have to find some money and get your dose. You become nervier, short-tempered; the drug becomes a fixed idea. You start stealing from your parents, taking out things, trying to find money in any way in order to get drugs for the days”, tells the young man. At the insistence of his parents, he has gone to doctors and communes without any lasting results. He now thinks that nothing happened because he did it for somebody else and not because he himself wanted to overcome it. And so, until that morning in which he woke up with the thought that he had to put an end to this if he wanted to live.

Unfortunately, about twenty people of Nikolay’s circle did not reach this insight. Of the 25-member company that has embarked on this “adventure”, three have got away with methadone, two are in prison and the rest have died.

According to the statistics of the National Monitoring Center for Drug Addiction, there is a upward trend in the number of deaths related to drug abuse in the country. In 2003, 15 deaths have been registered, while in 2007 - 52.

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“This cannot happen to me – my child does not do drugs!”

73 per cent of the parents are sure that their children have never tried drugs, while only 27 per cent of the teenagers say that they have never really tried drugs. This is revealed by an Internet study of the Bulgarian Office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, carried out among 1300 pupils and parents on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse this year.

“Parents are always the last to learn. Not because the child is so secret, but because parents themselves find it difficult to accept that it is their child that takes narcotic substances. And in their hope that this is not their child, in their overall negation, they do not want to learn the truth”, explains social worker Lyubka Toleva.

On the other hand, Mariana Popova shares that it is the teacher that often is the first one to notice something strange in the behavior of children that have started taking drugs. They can be recognized by their lack of interest in educational matters, complete apathy and increased irritability. Experts are categorical that no one is insured, while access to drugs is no longer only a "privilege" of the well-off. Drug addition is a phenomenon of the emotional life and it is rather equally spread in the different social groups, claims Haralan Alexandrov too. In his opinion, the social status only matters insofar as the better-off can afford better quality drugs.

“I could not find out about the drugs in the beginning because each child has a room of his own – he shuts himself there, keeps silent and says nothing. Where he did it, when it started exactly, I do not know. I guess he started with marijuana, but I did not realize it at the time. After a certain period of time, we understood that he was on heroin. Parents learn only when it is visible in the behavior. I, for my part, understood rather late about the problem”, says А.М., mother of a drug addict. She prefers to remain anonymous for the same reasons for which the greater number of parents of drug addicts refuse to speak at all about this issue. They see things as their personal failure, they are afraid of the response of friends and relatives and, in the end, they do not believe that anyone can help them.

It seems as if our society has become inured to drug abuse but the ones addicted still do not meet with understanding or support, thinks Haralan Alexandrov. The conviction that they have only themselves to blame is prevalent in the attitudes to them. These attitudes are characterized by victimization, exclusion and a mixture of disgust, hypocritical indignation and rejection, which aims to relieve all the rest of the shared responsibility for the problem, the social anthropologist claims. There is also an element of pity, which grows in inverse proportion to the distance, he notes. This means that the closer the child, and in particular if it is of the circle of relatives, the more probable it is to have an element of pity. Whenever the point is about somebody else, the response is only one of contempt and rejection.

Undoubtedly, the mass media also have an effect on the formation of the attitudes to the drug addicts. In June 2009, in Bulgaria, 157 materials were published and broadcast in relation to the drug addicts, as can be seen from the data of the monitoring exercised by the International Healthcare and Health Insurance Institute. This number was higher than usual and was probably due to the Day against Drug Abuse, celebrated on 26 June. Most of them were limited to statistical data and repetition of the findings of the experts on the subject. Some published information about the prices of the so-called “traditional” and “new” drugs. Titles of the type “Slaves to pleasure”, “12-year-olds are already shooting up”, “Sex and cheap drugs on the beach of Bourgas” are most conspicuous … Profound analytical materials could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The mass media publish shallow, biased, stigmatizing and often yellow materials on the issues related to drug addiction, Yana Byurer Tavanie, a journalist and a media expert, thinks. Sometimes the patronizing and pitying attitude prevails, coupled with unfamiliarity with the problems and terminology. The mass media in Bulgaria generally do not pay serious attention to social issues because they do not sell, says Yana, who has been involved in social issues for 10 years now.

On the other hand, the press observes unconditionally the ban on the advertisement of narcotic drugs introduced by the Public Health Act, claims media lawyer Radomir Cholakov. As regards editorial content, in the Bulgarian laws, as well as in the Code of Ethics of the Bulgarian mass media, there are no specific norms aiming to regulate the manner of treating such issues. Because of this, the coverage of issues related to the distribution or use of drugs is left to the discretion, taste and sense of moderation of the individual editor or the editorial staff as a whole.

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“The ones taking drugs are dangerous criminals”

This is another of the clearly expressed public perceptions, directly reflected in the amendments to the Penal Code of 2004 whereby the so-called “single dose” was repealed. Thus, teenagers caught with a single marijuana cigarette were threatened with 10-15 years of imprisonment and a fine of 100 to 200 thousand BGN. Instead of being treated, the stray pupils were placed on an equal footing with drug dealers and drug producers. In 2006, by a new amendment to the Penal Code, the single dose was brought back, although indirectly, by allowing courts to only impose a fine of up to 1000 BGN in “insignificant cases”.

At present, the Penal Code provides for two to eight years of imprisonment and a fine of 5 to 12 thousand BGN for the production and distribution of drugs, and in respect of risk narcotic substances, imprisonment for one to six years and a fine of 2 to 10 thousand BGN. Where the subject of the crime is precursors or materials for the production of narcotic substances, the penalty is imprisonment for 3 to 12 years and a fine of 20 to 100 thousand BGN. The Penal Code provides for more serious sentences in the case of large quantities and in the case that the act has been committed upon the request of a criminal group by a physician, pharmacist or a teacher as well as in the case of a danger of recurrence. For inducement to take drugs, the law provides for imprisonment for 1 to 8 years and a fine of 5 to 10 thousand BGN. These increase to a fine of 20-50 thousand BGN and imprisonment for 3 to 10 years where such inducement has been directed to a minor or non compos mentis, as well as when it is committed at a public place or is a repeated offence. For the management and financing of an organized criminal group for growing plants from which narcotic substances are extracted, the Penal Code provides for imprisonment for 10 to 20 years and a fine of 50 to 200 thousand BGN. A participant in a criminal group that has voluntarily cooperated with the authorities is not punished. In the serious cases of trafficking, the penalties reach imprisonment for 15-20 years and a fine of 200 to 300 thousand BGN.

According to data of the Ministry of the Interior, the number of drug-related crimes in the country has not registered any significant change in the last few years. According to a report of the Ministry of the Interior on the crime trends in 2007, the number of drug-related crimes was 2844 or 10 per cent of the total number. As compared to the previous year, the increase was only 0.7 per cent. The share of crimes related to drugs committed by minors and of offences against the public order and public calmness ¬¬– mainly hooliganism – is significant, the report says.

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“Any Bulgarian national is entitled to prophylaxis, therapy and rehabilitation in case of dependence”

This has been laid down in the Narcotic Substances and Precursors Control Act. By virtue of the same law, a National Council for Drugs has been set up at the Council of Ministers, which is to implement the national drug abuse policy. It is chaired by the Minister for Health and includes representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Presidency, the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Investigation Service, the Executive Drug Agency and other interested institutions determined by the government.

Nonetheless, the institutions do not have a general picture of the situation, says Haralan Alexandrov. “They have fragmented pictures and each of them only sees a small part of the problem through its institutional prism. For example, the Ministry for Health sees it as a medical problem and decides accordingly to substitute heroin with methadone, i.e. one hard drug with one softer drug under some form of control. The Ministry of Social Policy sees it as a poverty-related problem. The Ministry of the Interior sees it only as a criminal problem. The Ministry of Education, I think, does not care at all”, is the opinion of the social anthropologist.

At this stage of implementation of the drug abuse policy, there are 26 district councils for drugs on local level. The data are from the draft National Anti-drug Strategy 2009-2013, which was the subject of public consultations in May this year. Preventive information centers have been set up at 22 of the district councils, which carry out preventive and informational activities on local level. Their financing, however, depends on the financial standing of the respective municipality, by reason of which there are serious disproportions at places, the report says.

The treatment of drug addicts takes place in 11 state-owned psychiatric hospitals, 12 psychiatric dispensaries, 11 psychiatric wards of the multi-profile hospitals for active treatment and 4 psychiatric clinics with the university hospitals. In the last five years, 29 substitution and supporting programs have been developed and are functioning. There are 7 social rehabilitation and reintegration programs for persons addicted to drugs, of which 5 daycare rehabilitation centers and 2 long-term rehabilitation programs of the type of “therapeutic communities” or the so-called “communes”. The programs developed, however, are not equally distributed on the territory of the country which impedes access. In addition, the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts do not fall within the scope of the medical services paid by the National Health Insurance Fund, which is indicated as a shortcoming in the draft strategy. The programs of the type of “therapeutic communities”, which are free for the users, are scarce, while the conditions and procedure for their development are in a process of clarification and legal regulation, say the authors of the project.

The non-governmental organizations lodge periodic requests for legislative changes but there is no public discussion related to the problems of drug addicts in the country. But these should be made public, suggests Haralan Alexandrov – not in a specific context and in abstract terms but openly and honestly. Otherwise, the institutions and each one of those affected will continue to piece the puzzle individually, while the parents, to hope that this will not happen in their home.

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