In Irkutsk, alarming results of school drug use testing were discussed, 4 percent of surveyed teens may be potential users. The antidrug commission also reported more minors on record and proposed stronger school prevention. The mayor urged action beyond formal powers and raised the issue of positive tests for university admission and jobs.

The results of the latest testing of schoolchildren for drug use indicate that 4% of Irkutsk schoolchildren are potential drug users (21 teenagers out of 800 tested). These figures were presented at a meeting of the city administration’s anti-drug commission in Irkutsk. It is not entirely correct to extrapolate the picture obtained to 62,000 Irkutsk schoolchildren, since the most “problematic” educational institutions were selected for testing. Nevertheless, according to the meeting participants, there is a trend toward an increase in the number of potential drug users at school age.
As of today, 1,127 Irkutsk teenagers are registered with juvenile affairs commissions. Of these, 22 regularly use drugs: 6 live in the Right Bank District, 5 each in the Leninsky and Oktyabrsky districts, and the rest live in the Sverdlovsky District of Irkutsk. Overall in the city, over the first 10 months of this year, 569 teenagers were taken to police stations, 75 of whom were intoxicated by alcohol and 11 by drugs. Ten minors were convicted of illegal possession of narcotic substances: among them were 5 students of general education schools and 5 unemployed teenagers. Juvenile affairs inspectors appealed to the Irkutsk city administration with a request to allocate an elective hour in the school schedule for anti-drug education by the efforts of 75 inspectors.
According to Valentina Peregudova, head of the education department of the Irkutsk city administration, until recently two forms of work were used in Irkutsk to identify possible drug users in schools: anonymous surveys and drug-use testing. Since September, the authority to conduct testing of teenagers has been transferred to the regional level, and the procedure is carried out by a specialized organization — the Irkutsk Regional Psychoneurological Dispensary, which, in accordance with the law on personal data protection, does not provide data on the testing results to the education department or school administrations.
Irkutsk Mayor Viktor Kondrashov noted that the lack of authority does not relieve municipal authorities of the need to work with children who may become potential drug users. The mayor proposed holding a meeting with university rectors and including a clause in the bylaws of educational institutions stating that a young person may not be admitted to study on the basis of a positive drug-use test result. In the mayor’s opinion, this issue should also be discussed with Irkutsk’s largest employers, who are interested in drug testing for newly hired staff. Viktor Kondrashov noted that every school should disseminate information that drug use may in the future lead to problems with admission to university and with employment.