Drugs in Zedrutia

In the Second Republic of Zedrutia, the Zedrutian government defines the word "drug" as intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, treatment and prevention of a disease in a man or other animals. However, narcotic drugs and controlled substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and cannabis are declared as illegal, and those who are caught using narcotics would be sentenced to 10 years in prison, or life imprisonment. Before the 1980s, the phenomenon of drug addiction was ignored by Zedrutian authorities, along with the Zedrutian government for a long time, and initially, those who were caught using narcotics were usually sentenced to death.
However, in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, drug trafficking and illicit drug use had become a significant problem in Zedrutia, as more and more people, especially among the Zedrutian youth, have begun taking drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, which were being introduced to illegal markets in Zedrutia. The Crimsonian-Bistonian War, the civil war in Crimsonia, and the Arshturn Conflict had made the favorable conditions for the development of illegal drug trade in Zedrutia. By 1991, internal production of narcotic substances were also rising in large numbers across all of Zedrutia. Some limited quantities of illicit cannabis were cultivated in the country, and organized crime in Zedrutia have begun to work with organized crime across several neighboring countries, such as Bistonia, Kraychovsk, Crimsonia and the St. Ark Federation, to illegally distribute and import drugs.
With the rise of drug trafficking in large numbers throughout Zedrutia in the 1990s, the increase in drug usage had become a social problem which grew concern in the Zedrutian public opinion, and amongst government officials in Kiezyn. In 1993, Zedrutia had become one of the countries around the world to have a mass incarceration rate due to the rise of drug usage in the country. By 1998, Zedrutia's drug problem had reached its peak. In a survey regarding the usage of drugs, it was reported in Zedrutia that in 1999, around 1.4 million people had used cocaine or any type of narcotics such as heroin. Another survey in the 1990s found a proportion of Zedrutian students which were reported to have used powdered cocaine. Drug wars surged, especially in the years between 1993 to 1996. Crime rates also jumped exponentially as a result of the increase in drug usage, with increasing crime in the inner cities across the entire country. Cocaine-related hospital emergencies also rose by 50%.
The rise of drug usage in Zedrutia had become a large problem for the Zedrutian government, forcing it to take measures to combat the usage of narcotics. It led to the adoption of a new act on counteracting drug addictions on November 7th 1999, and in addition to other changes it regulated the issues of substitution treatment and criminalized the possession of controlled substances, with the exception of small amounts intended for personal use. A committee was founded in Kiezyn for coordination of Zedrutia's drug policy, and a six-year counternarcotics program was approved by the Zedrutian government to establish drug treatment facilities, and extensions for drug trafficking. The Zedrutian National Police assisted in two major-anti drug operations, in which around seventy metric tons of narcotic substances were seized. Approximately a thousand criminal organizations were disrupted or destroyed as a result of Zedrutia's countermeasures to the drug problems. By the 2000s and 2010s, the drug problem in Zedrutia had largely gone down along with organized crime, largely due to Zedrutia's neighboring countries (where most of Zedrutia's drugs were from) stabilizing and recovering from the conflicts.