Russia's state anti-narcotics committee (GAK) is developing new forms of treatment for drug addiction, following exposure of a number of cases where addicts were subjected to coercive treatment, the country's drug chief said on Monday.
"We will develop methods of coercing [drug addicts] to receiving treatment, but not physically... shackles are not the way forward," Head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov said.
The issue came to the fore last year when Yegor Bychkov, the director of an anti-narcotics clinic in the Urals, was jailed for over three years for using "forceful methods" when treating his patients, including restraining them to their beds.
Ivanov said that drug addicts would be allowed to undergo treatment anonymously.
"Our goal is to understand the scope of drug abuse... Personal data does not interest us, the drug dealers themselves do," Ivanov said.
Most drug addicts slip back into dependency after undergoing treatment in Russia's clinics, according to statistics.
Around 30,000 Russians die from drug abuse every year.
MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti)
