Russia’s mephedrone problem is spiralling out of control

Russians are, stereotypically, known as heavy vodka drinkers – a fact that is often celebrated, despite all the bodily perils it entails. What’s rather less talked about is that Russia suffers one of the worst HIV epidemics outside Africa. This is thanks, in no small part, to heroin users sharing needles. But the latest challenge to public health, aside from the meatgrinder in Ukraine, is the synthetic stimulants craze behind which lie an underworld of cyber drug cartels.

The annual death toll from illicit drugs has more than doubled since 2019 to over 10,000 a year, a gruesome trend that’s likely to continue as the stress of the war eats away at Russian society and traumatised soldiers return from the battlefield.

It’s tricky to tell, for obvious reasons, precisely how much of Russia’s drug traffic flows through the dark web. But anecdotally, nearly everything has shifted from street corner sales to the internet, as documented in a new