A Drug Epidemic Strikes the Country?

While the authorities report successes in combating drug proliferation in Moldova, the opposition claims that the true scale of the problem, steadily engulfing the country, is being concealed

Semyon ALBU, RTA: One of the major international events this week was the near full-scale military clash in Mexico between local security forces and armed drug cartel groups following the assassination of the drug lord known as “El Mencho”. Fortunately, Moldova has not experienced such extreme violence, but the issue of drug trafficking remains pressing. Yesterday, Interior Minister Daniella Misail-Nichitin even addressed parliament with a special report to outline measures aimed at countering the spread of this scourge among the population. Of course, it cannot be said that the authorities completely ignore or deny the existence of the problem. However, by presenting it in their own “terms”, they fail to see anything dramatic in the situation. Even official data, which indicate deterioration across nearly all indicators, are portrayed in a favorable light. For instance, just last year, the volume of narcotics detected in the country surged sharply, synthetics doubled, and mortality due to drug use increased. The number of drug-related offenses and criminal cases rose significantly, and documented cases of smuggling grew tenfold. Yet, according to Misail-Nichitin, all these figures primarily reflect the active work of law enforcement agencies, and not what you might think. Obviously, if you don’t blow your own trumpet, no one else will. Yesterday, the relevant official spoke at length about how difficult it is to combat drug trafficking today. She noted that organizers of such schemes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using cryptocurrency for transactions, messaging apps and social networks for coordination, and employing various methods to conceal their illegal goods: from hiding them in parcels and household appliances to sealing them in cans. Nevertheless, law enforcement remains vigilant, regularly intercepting large shipments of drugs. They also cooperate with colleagues from Romania, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, and other countries, and carry out thousands of activities as part of their public awareness campaign. Currently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is reportedly preparing a National Strategy for Combating Drugs and Drug Addiction for the period 2026-2032. It also plans to tighten the relevant criminal legislation and pay greater attention to monitoring minors, among whom the number of couriers and stash operators is growing. On the surface, everything looks perfectly proper: there’s a problem, the authorities are addressing it now, and they plan to step up their efforts even further. But you didn’t really think it was all that simple, did you? The statistics officially released, including those presented yesterday in Parliament, are just the tip of the iceberg, which everyone well understands. In reality, the situation with drug trafficking is becoming increasingly dramatic. For example, according to the Ministry of Health, there are over 12,000 registered drug addicts in the country, and this number grows every year. And that only counts those officially registered. The actual figure is much higher: the Minister of Health estimates around 50,000 people, while experts put the number at 100,000 or more. There is another alarming trend. Schoolchildren and students are not only increasingly involved in drug distribution but are also consuming them in growing amounts. This is driven both by the extreme availability of illicit substances, especially synthetic salts, and by social factors – many children grow up for years without their parents, who are constantly away working, leaving them without proper supervision. At the same time, officials refuse to acknowledge the problem of drug proliferation in the country’s educational institutions. According to Police Chief Viorel Cernauteanu, law enforcement has “not received a single report regarding drug use in public places”, including schools. The issue is also dismissed as fabricated by Education Minister Dan Perciun. Consequently, the authorities did not support an initiative to implement mandatory drug testing for all schoolchildren, claiming it would be “undemocratic”. Moreover, cases of children being poisoned by these substances may be deliberately concealed. A highly publicized incident involved a student from Stefan Voda who fell into a coma, reportedly due to drugs, according to MP Vasile Costiuc. However, according to police, the child “simply took too many pills”. That’s far from the only oddity. For example, the same Cernauteanu insists to the public that drugs in Moldova come exclusively from abroad, mainly the European Union and Ukraine, and are definitely not produced domestically. Yet underground laboratories are periodically discovered, as reported by the Special Prosecutor’s Office. A peculiar inconsistency. Or could it be that some labs operate “under the right protection”, which means they cannot be harmed or officially acknowledged? Moreover, as the Interior Minister admitted yesterday in response to a question from Deputy Vladimir Odnostalco, over the past five years not a single law enforcement officer has been prosecuted for involvement in illegal drug trafficking. Now try to calculate the mathematical probability of such flawless honesty among our police and draw the obvious conclusions yourself. Another point highlighted by the opposition is that throughout her presidency, Maia Sandu has regularly granted amnesty to individuals involved in drug trafficking, and these amnesties are allegedly “sold” for a certain price. In one broadcast, a list was even read out. Believing this, of course, is far from easy. On the other hand, one immediately recalls the scandalous case of the Moldovan saboteurs allegedly preparing to assassinate various military and media figures in Ukraine. The leader of this “hit squad”, Nicolae Sepel, was at one point pardoned by Sandu, although it later emerged that he had originally been convicted in Russia precisely for drug trafficking. Coincidence? There are other details as well that suggest the process of saturating our market with illicit substances does not happen without some influential approval within Moldova itself. So, it turns out that, on the surface, we are supposedly waging a strong fight against this threat, yet drugs on our streets are becoming increasingly prevalent. Either the regime’s efforts in this area are far less effective than they would have us believe, or drug trafficking in Moldova truly has powerful patrons at the highest levels, turning the entire “fight” into a “Sisyphean task”. Which explanation is more accurate – you decide for yourself.