Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe target Russia

This latest video released by the Open Society Institute (OSI) addresses the fact that Russia has still not endorsed Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) such as methadone and Buprenorphine as a form of treatment for heroin dependency.

The video is a comical attempt to address a serious issue and points out that HIV among drug users is skyrocketing and that the Russian government is denying the fact. Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe’s attempt to go the Kremlin is thwarted by their nemesis Mr Thought Control who convinces Russian policymakers that Methadone and Buprenorphine are not effective as a form of treatment.

The head of the Russian delegation Victor Ivanov said in March at the Commission of Narcotic Drugs (CND) that OST is not effective. Russia has received global criticism for not supporting OST as a form of drug treatment and critics say that OST will also help curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Supporters of OST treatment say that it is an effective way of reducing the amount of crime caused by drug dependants as well as reducing the risks of diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. In Russia there are an estimated 1.6 million intravenous drug users (IDUs) of which 60 to 70 percent have HIV-related illnesses. In the past decade the number of HIV-infected people increased tenfold from an estimated 100,000 to one million. What is seen by many as a failure to address this situation has inspired a Facebook group opposing a Russian successor to Antonio Maria Costa as head of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.

Heroin use has escalated in post-communist Russia and the Russian government is putting serious pressure on NATO to step up crop eradication policies in Afghanistan the main supplier of heroin in the region.