Youth and vice: how are drug-addicted teenagers rehabilitated?

A Dmitry Markov rehabilitation center for drug-addicted teenagers will be opened in Nizhny Novgorod. The Alice Foundation team and the Survivors project are raising funds for the long-term operation of this center. His discovery is called very important — now, according to experts, there is virtually no truly systematic assistance for minors with drug addiction. At the same time, the problem is growing: synthetic drugs are becoming more accessible to children. Experts recorded the first use of mephedrone by a child at the age of eight. For more information about how the rehabilitation of adolescents with drug addiction is conducted, see the Izvestia article.

How will the rehabilitation center work

Ekaterina Molchanova, Head of the Alice Charitable Foundation she told in her social networks that the lease agreement for premises in Nizhny Novgorod for a teen rehabilitation center has already been signed, it will be launched in April. The organization will be named after one of the authors of the idea, Dmitry Markov, a famous documentary photographer who died in February 2024. He is also known as a man who has been involved in the rehabilitation of drug addicts for a long time.

Ekaterina Molchanova emphasized that the adolescent rehabilitation center is a very complex, important, but expensive project. The foundation's team has now launched a collection for his work.

Young people who use psychoactive substances and have already faced the problem of addiction and difficulties with social adaptation in society will receive help in the rehabilitation center.The Foundation has experience working with "difficult" teenagers, and now combines its competencies with the Survivors project, which is dedicated to the rehabilitation of drug addicts. The opening of such a center is called a transition to a systemic solution to the problem.

— Work with teenagers will be based on the principles of habilitation, which includes teaching them new skills and behaviors. The main focus will be on psychological work, both individual and group, including trainings, including those based on dialectical behavioral therapy, Ekaterina Molchanova told Izvestia.

Rehabilitation at the center can last from six months. At the same time, it will be able to accommodate up to 30 teenagers sent from social institutions and crisis families.

The founders of the center consider the "adult" 12-step program not very effective for teenagers who are unable to recognize their addiction and do not have clear patterns of behavior for "returning." Therefore, the rehabilitation center is going to apply correctional programs, pay significant attention to sports and body therapy to help teenagers regain cognitive skills and improve their physical condition.

— In the first year of our center's operation, we plan to graduate about 80 wards, achieving long—term sustainable remission and a return to a healthy lifestyle, - said Ekaterina Molchanova. — Teenagers who have completed rehabilitation will have the opportunity to develop interesting hobbies, meet new people and in the future will be more likely to be able to avoid relapses and positively influence their friends in crisis situations. We strive to build a system of care that will include both a rehabilitation course and support after it.

The problem is growing

At the end of 2022, Ivan Gorbunov, Head of the Main Drug Control Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation that the number of children and teenagers who died due to drug use has increased 2.5 times in Russia since 2017. According to report In 2023, 25.2 thousand cases of acute poisoning with narcotic substances and psychodisleptics (hallucinogens) were registered in Russia, which is 14.2% more than in 2022. 484 such cases were recorded among teenagers, 111 among children.

— It is difficult to name exact figures about the number of minors with drug addiction in Russia, — said the head of the psychiatric and narcological clinic of Dr. Isaeva (the structure includes, among others, the children's rebcenter "Double diagnosis Junior"), Ruslan Isaev, President of the Independent Narcological Guild, Izvestia. —Official statistics reflect only registered cases, and the actual number of minors with addiction is much higher. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health, thousands of teenagers who use drugs are identified every year, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Ruslan Isaev points out that the growing cases of addiction among adolescents, "especially from synthetic drugs," are alarming. These substances cause rapid addiction and severe mental consequences, including psychosis and permanent personality changes. A study conducted in the clinic's rehabilitation centers by specialists from the V.P. Serbsky National Research Medical Center of Psychiatry and Narcology showed that more than a third of adolescents started taking psychoactive substances before the age of 14, and the second substance was connected by the age of 16 on average.

Alina Rudakova, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Anti-Drug Union, also noted that the problem is growing.

— This became clear back in 2018-2019, when mephedrone began to spread more and more, she told Izvestia. — This and similar drugs are leading in terms of cost, accessibility, and mental health effects. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them in Russia.

The other day, the UN International Narcotics Control Board published a report for 2024, in which it called the rapid development of the illicit synthetic drug industry a global threat "with potentially catastrophic consequences for humanity." The same report indicates that in 2022, 32,715 kg of various narcotic drugs were seized in Russia, which is 23.9% more than a year earlier. Synthetic substances accounted for 50.1% of the total volume. N-methylephedrone and its derivatives accounted for 23.3% (7627 kg). And this is 60.6% more than in 2021.

Are teenagers rehabilitated in Russia

Lawyer Sergey Agapov says that the current regulations provide for the mandatory exchange of information about teenagers who find themselves in a difficult life situation.

— For example, ambulance workers, when confronted with a teenager under the influence of drugs, immediately transmit information about this case. The school, the polyclinic, the internal affairs bodies, the juvenile affairs commission, and so on receive it," he told Izvestia. — The goal is to establish the reasons and circumstances under which the teenager used prohibited substances, as well as comprehensive preventive work.

However, lawyer Maria Fedotova notes that the state aid system as a whole is fragmented, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has been entrusted with drug trafficking control, has shifted its focus to punishment rather than rehabilitation.

Ekaterina Molchanova notes that in Russia there is no systematic assistance for adolescents who use narcotic substances and have cognitive-behavioral disorders, and the existing rehabilitation centers are mainly designed for adults. The situation is complicated by the fact that there is no legal definition of a "drug-addicted child."

— Existing medical rehabilitation often proves ineffective for young people, as adolescents have different causes of addiction and psychoemotional conditions compared to adults, Ekaterina Molchanova told Izvestia. — It is not enough to undergo short-term rehabilitation, a long-term course with subsequent re-socialization and support is needed.

A study conducted by the NMC named after In the rehabilitation centers of Dr. Isaev's clinic, it was shown that adolescent drug addiction is very often not a primary problem, but a consequence of other mental disorders. Thus, 90% of adolescents with addiction have experienced at least one severe childhood trauma. 37% of teenagers had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, 38% had moderate to severe depression. Two thirds of teenagers with drug addiction have experienced violence from their parents, and 76.5% have been bullied.

— The state system for identifying drug—addicted adolescents in Russia has limited effectiveness: not all teenagers who use drugs come to the attention of doctors, says Ruslan Isaev. — Many families are afraid to register a child, as this is associated with a number of social consequences.

With rehabilitation, he says, the situation is even more complicated: individual state programs to support dependent adolescents are fragmented and do not give a comprehensive result, adolescents do not receive full-fledged psychotherapeutic and social rehabilitation. And most of them remain outside this system altogether.

Alina Rudakova also agrees that there is no coherent state system for the rehabilitation of adolescents. She cites the spread of mephedrone as one of the reasons: previously, the first use was recorded at the age of 14-15, but as such, the consequences overtook a person after 5-7 years; synthetic drugs narrowed the period of addiction to three months.At the same time, there are almost no state rehabilitation centers for adolescents, private rehabilitation centers rarely take into account the peculiarities of the child's psyche, and it is very difficult to open such an institution for minors.

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor did not respond to requests from Izvestia at the time of publication.

Drug use is extremely dangerous to health. They cause severe addiction, destroy physical and mental health, and can also lead to irreversible consequences, including death.