The total number of drug-related crimes recorded by the Armenian police more than doubled in the first nine months of this year, continuing an upward trend observed in recent years. It is widely blamed on increasingly accessible synthetic drugs mainly sold through the internet and, in particular, the social media platform Telegram. Links to Telegram channels selling such narcotics can now be seen painted on residential buildings and other public areas across Yerevan.
The alarming trend has prompted serious concern from not only opposition politicians but also parliament deputies representing the ruling Civil Contract party. The latter again raised their concerns with Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian during a meeting held as part of preliminary parliamentary discussions of the 2024 state budget drafted by the Armenian government. They were particularly worried about drug trafficking in or around schools, a new phenomenon which was virtually non-existent in Armenia several years ago.
One of those lawmakers, Hayk Sargsian, described the growing drug abuse among school students as a “national security problem” and called for all teenagers to be subjected to drug test by the police at least once a year. Positive test results should be communicated to parents and/or lead to “some punitive measures,” said Sargsian.
Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the parliament committee on defense and security, said such testing must also be mandatory for police officers and other security personnel suspected of involvement in trafficking rings.
Another pro-government lawmaker, Vahagn Aleksanian, said the police should instead encourage the parents of underage Armenians and “especially boys” to conduct tests at home.
“If the problem is widespread among minors, then there isn’t much the police can do,” he said. “Parental control must be the key thing here.”
Ghazarian backed these proposals and called for a broader toughening of the fight against the increasingly serious problem. In particular, he said, the Armenian authorities must again criminalize drug addiction.
“The more we toughen sanctions against drug trafficking, the more the figures will fall,” the interior minister told the parliamentarians.
The rising drug-related cases have been a key factor behind considerable annual increases in Armenia’s overall crime rate registered since the 2018 “velvet revolution.” The police recorded 29,682 various crimes in January-September 2023, up by 12 percent year on year. Critics claim that the country is not as safe as it used to be because its current government headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is more incompetent and softer on crime than the previous ones.