Overcoming drug addiction. Opium “epidemic” in Ukraine and what measures the state is taking

According to a European survey of students on the use of alcohol and other drugs by ESPAD in Ukraine, every twentieth girl and every fifteenth boy out of young people aged 15 to 17 tried cannabis. From year to year, the number of deaths caused by poisoning by psychoactive substances is growing: in 2015, 151 people died from poisoning in Ukraine, and in 2019, this figure increased almost threefold to 421 deaths.

The most dangerous and most common drug in Ukraine is opioids. According to the above statistics, people who use opium most often (in 67.41% of cases) go to rehabilitation centers. It's a dangerous drug, used for the synthesis of heroin, which is injected intravenously, which also provokes the risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other infections.