OVER the last year 45,000 to 50,000 Bulgarians, most of them young people, have tried heroin at least once and 50 per cent of them use the drug every day. Dr. Georgi Vassilev, director of the National Centre for Addictions, cited the data at the opening of a Municipal Council on Narcotic Substances in Pleven (Northern Bulgaria) last Friday.

The figures were an expert evaluation of data provided by a number of sources, such as medical institutions and police registrars, said Dr. Vassilev. The actual figures might differ by 5,000 to 10,000, but the fact remained that the spread of heroin was acquiring epidemic proportions, he said.

Although heroin abuse is increasing at a slower pace than two or three years ago, the age of heroin abusers has reached the 18 to 20 age group. A few years ago most abusers were from the 22 to 24 age group. According to his estimates, in Sofia alone there are about 20,000 heroin users.

Dr. Vassilev also warned that there was a boom in the spread of cannabis in Bulgaria. "Nowadays the youth culture popularizes the abuse of cannabis, even with songs," he said. The National Centre for Addictions surveyed Sofia's secondary school students and found that one-third of them had tried cannabis at least once between the ages of 10 and 12. The fact that people started using drugs when they were not mature made their development much harder, said Dr. Vassilev.

The permissive attitude towards cannabis use was a warning sign, he said. Bulgarian society does not have the social mechanisms for controlling drug abuse that other countries such as Holland have. Judging by Bulgarian's heavy use of "legal" drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, the legalization of cannabis would not decrease its use, said Dr. Vassilev.

The National Centre for Addictions has drawn up a national program to fight drugs from 2001 to 2005. One of the measures of this program is the creation of narcotics councils in all big cities. Pleven's narcotics council is the fifth institution of its kind in Bulgaria. These councils would combine the efforts of the authorities and of non-governmental organizations to prevent the expansion of the drug market in Bulgaria, said Dr. Vassilev.