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The authors discuss the drug policy in the global community specifically in Russia. Lev Levinson notes that the war on drugs has not been lost and that expanding the lists of banned substances would be counterproductive. Yury Krupnov cites that anti-drugs policies to solve drug addiction are addressed like the modern international system to combat drug trafficking in Sweden in 1960s. Krupnov adds that criminalizing the use of drugs must be the basis for the Russian anti-narcotics strategy.

The article presents information on the latest drug policy change in the Russian Criminal Code: a decrease of the drug threshold amounts for which possession can lead to a criminal liability. Also, the article presents an assessment of the 2003-2004 liberal revisions in the Criminal Code, and an analysis of the background/premise for the 2006 counter-reform. The author examines the new criteria for establishing criminal liability and possible consequences of these changes for people who use illicit psycho-active substances for non-medical purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]