Subu Must Die: How a nation of junkies went cold turkey

[carlfense]

Needle drugs seldom make a city look pretty, but some cities are more disfigured by them than others. In 2006, when I first visited Tbilisi, Georgia, it had all the wrecked majesty of an ex-beauty queen with six years of track-marks down her arms. It was a great European capital in decay: crumbling bridges, refugees from war, and—most of all—cast-off syringes everywhere. Alleys, parks, and tunnels under the Soviet-style boulevards all had this spiky detritus, which badly spoiled Tbilisi’s old-world romance and instead put it into a permanent state of biohazard.

 

So when I returned this year, I packed thick-soled shoes. It turned out that, but for the frigid temperatures (and my own self-respect), I could have worn Tevas. The syringes, which once pumped opiates into the veins of as many as 250,000 addicts, are absent. The subway now feels safe, clean, and orderly, with no trash more revolting than a Snickers wrapper. The tunnels under Rustaveli Avenue still smell pissy, but so do most big cities’ tunnels. If the addicts are still there, they have been persuaded to shoot up with greater discretion. And if they are now gone, the Georgians have accomplished something remarkable, which is the rapid diminution of smackheads.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113051/georgias-war-drugs-how-its-subutex-addiction-ended

[OH HSKR FAN]

I wonder about a lot of these former Eastern Bloc countries. It seemed like these countries were open game to organized crime.

[Creighton Duke]

Georgia is importing English teachers like it's going out of style. They are really taking a Western route to modernization.

[BigRedBuster]

Interesting.

 

But, I'm confused from the article on what he is claiming dropped the drug use in Georgia.

 

Was it the harsh crack down on users? Was it the introduction of other drugs?

[carlfense]

Interesting.

 

But, I'm confused from the article on what he is claiming dropped the drug use in Georgia.

 

Was it the harsh crack down on users? Was it the introduction of other drugs?

I think that it's focused on the success of the harsh crack down on certain kinds of addiction while noting that this choice created other problems.