MOSCOW, December 28 – RAPSI. A unified database of drug abusers who have violated the law to be launched in Russia with joint efforts of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) and the Interior Ministry.

The unified database will be launched within a draft program of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation which FSKN is expected to put in place by the end of March 2013.

According to Yevgeny Bryun, the chief drug abuse expert at the Healthcare and Social Development Ministry, there are 550,000 drug addicts in Russia, while 4-5 million individuals have used drugs at least once.