Cruel treatment and inhumane methods of rehabilitation centres in Tatarstan are revealed and discussed by doctor of medical sciences and former residents. Watch the video of Drug Users News, member of the Drugreporter video network.
The topic of violence in rehabilitation centres for people who use drugs in Russia is relevant to this day. The reasons for the cruel treatment and inhumane methods of such rehabilitation are discussed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Mendelevich.
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Since the late 60s the main method of treatment of drug dependence in the USSR were the so-called “medical and labour dispensaries”, or “LTP”. “Medical and labour dispensaries” are medical and correctional institutions intended for those who, in the opinion of the state, needed treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism. There, in conditions of limited freedom, the citizens of the country of the Soviets were “treated” with labour. To get to “LTP” was possible only by a court decision, however, a person’s stay there was not considered a prison term. It only served to temporarily isolate alcohol- and drug-dependent people, without sending them to correctional facilities.
Unfortunately, the modern approach in Russia differs little from the Soviet one. Treatment of drug addiction, as before, remains a problem for the patient’s relatives. However, unlike the Soviet era, in modern Russia, the state almost does not participate in the rehabilitation and treatment of drug addiction. This led many people to take advantage of this situation: they organised a large number of private rehabilitation centres in which people are held against their will and at their own cost, violating their rights and committing a crime against them personally.
Unfortunately, the policy of the Russian Federation towards drug users is becoming more and more one-sided. According to the authorities, the only effective treatment of drug addiction is the total refusal to use drugs. Today in Russia a federal program for treatment and rehabilitation is being created that excludes scientific approaches. Those who yesterday led such centres where violence was practiced become the leading figures of the national drug prevention program. This means that in the future we will see an increase in cases of human rights violations against people who use drugs.
This film presents evidence of torture that degrades human dignity towards patients in these centres and even death. A well-known psychiatrist, narcologist, doctor of medical sciences, professor Vladimir Mendelevich discusses the phenomenon of “motivational” rehabilitation centres in Russia.
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