Other countries are not exempt from the drug epidemic. The Soviet newspaper Pravda quoted Internal Affairs Minister Alexander Vlasov as saying: “The struggle against drug addiction and crime connected with it has become one of the main tasks of the Internal Affairs Ministry.” As reported in the Soviet Weekly, “drug-related charges have been made against 80,000 Soviet people over the last two years,” and despite treatment for addicts, “the problem remained a major one, with 131,000 registered drug users.”

Hungary is said to have between 30,000 and 50,000 drug abusers, and Poland an estimated 200,000 to 600,000 addicts and users of hard drugs, mostly youths under 25 years of age.

European Parliament member Sir Jack Stewart Clark predicts that the number of regular cocaine users in Western Europe may reach three to four million by the mid-1990’s. Spain already has an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 cocaine users.