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Published in: oDRNickel and dimes
The fertile territories around Voronezh have long been referred to as Russia’s ‘breadbasket’. They also hold the...
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Published in: oDRNew Russian laws: no chance of a drink or a smoke
Throughout Russia’s history its rulers have attempted to curtail the consumption of alcohol and/or tobacco....
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Published in: oDRWinter in Russia: cold indoors as well as out
Most radiators in urban Russian homes are fed by hot water transported from heating plants miles away. Ageing pipes...
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Published in: oDRWork permits: creating a documented self in Russia
The life of a migrant worker is never easy. The upheavals of the past 20 years in the former USSR have resulted in...
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Published in: oDRThe disabled need not apply: prejudice and discrimination in Belarus
The excitement surrounding the Paralympics brings home just how far so many countries have come in rethinking...
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Published in: oDRPalliative care in Russia: it's time to stop the suffering
In whatever country they manifest, life-limiting conditions are heartbreaking for children and their families. In...
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Published in: oDRSnap goes the Crocodile
Marina Akhmedova spent four days in the company of drug users in Yekaterinburg, central Russia, and was met with a...
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Published in: oDRLittle Strangers. ‘Get me out of here!’
When twelve-year-old Lyosha tried to escape a children’s home to return to his family, he was sent to a psychiatric...
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Published in: oDRRussia’s drinking habits today – still hooked on vodka, or do they prefer vino?
Russians and vodka have always been a notorious and combustible combination, but the availability of alcohol has...
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Published in: oDRA drug addict in free fall: another reckoning
For many years Irina Teplinskaya has been campaigning for replacement therapy to be available to drug addicts in...
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Published in: oDRHuman rights for Russian drug addicts: I will not be silenced!
Arguments over the benefits of opiate substitution therapy versus abstinence as the most successful way of dealing...
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Published in: oDRChernobyl: the first month
Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl disaster, Barys Piatrovich recalls the tension of unknowing that gripped him...
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Published in: oDRRussia’s heroin epidemic: why the government is ducking the issue
Drug addiction in Russia has reached epidemic proportions, but the government is refusing to address the problem...
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Published in: oDRFree fall: a Russian drug addict crashes – again!
ODR recently published the story of an intelligent, educated Russian woman who is HIV+ and drug dependent. This was...
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Published in: oDRHIV positive in Russia: where is our medication?
openDemocracy Russia recently published the harrowing tale of a Russian drug-dependent woman Irina Teplinskaya, and...
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Published in: oDRA life in free fall: a Russian drug addict's story (1)
Irina Teplinskaya was born with every advantage. But when she started taking drugs, there was no effective help to...
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Published in: oDRA life in free fall: a Russian drug addict's story (2)
In Russia drug addicts are seen as scum: the sooner they die, the better. In this second part of her story Irina...
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Published in: oDRHerb and Spices: Tatarstan's drug problems
In the third of a series on drugs in Russia's regions, Oleg Pavlov reports from the Republic of Tatarstan, 400 miles...
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Published in: oDRPoppy seed and mushrooms: Oryol's drug problems
The Oryol Region in central Russia has been fairly successful in dealing with its drug problems, but the approaches...
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Published in: oDRDiviner's Sage and Hawaiian Rose: Sakhalin's drug problems
Throwing money at a problem doesn’t always solve it. Allocations for drug control have been increased on Sakhalin,...