This developed from the interest of one of the authors, a Soviet specialist, in the problems of drug abuse in the Soviet Union, who on a visit to St. Petersburg in 1988, met a psychologist, Dr Meiroyan who had set up clinics for drug addicts, alcoholics and smokers under the general auspices of the St Peters-burg State Institute for Post Graduate Medical Studies. On a visit to the UK the following year, Dr Meiroryan saw a number of drug and alcohol services, including some in the Wessex region. The treatment of substance misuse is based upon the state system of narcological clinics which have been set up over the past ten years as narcology has developed as a separate discipline. Narcology embraces all forms of substance abuse.
Treatment is aimed mainly at alcoholism, with smoking and drug addiction taking second place.
The Soviets subscribe to the disease model of addiction. The training of these specialists has been limited, consisting of short courses from one to three months in length. It is acknowledged that narcological clinics are failing to offer adequate services for those with drug problems2. There are a number of reasons for this. Addicts are officially registered, and their names passed to the police.