MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's police have seized more than 170 metric tons of drugs in the past five years, the Federal Drug Control Service said on Tuesday.
"Some seven tons of heroin, 148 tons of marijuana, and almost 3 billion batches of synthetic drugs have been netted," said Vladimir Zubrin, a deputy head of the service.
It is estimated that there are between 70,000-100,000 drug-related deaths annually in Russia, Zubrin said.
The official said, however, that the number of drug addicts in Russia has started to decrease since 2003, when Russia set up its drug watchdog.
There are currently estimated to be slightly over 5 million illicit drug users in the country, some 800,000 less than in 2006, he added.
