DUSHANBE, January 13, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- 68 new drug-dependant persons were reported in Tajikistan last, bringing a total number of the officially registered drug-dependant persons n the country to 8,660 people, including 422 women, director of the Tajik Drug Control Agency (DCA), Lieutenant-General Rustam Nazarov, announced at a press conference in Dushanbe on January 12.

According to him, heroin users constitute 79.4 percent of the drug-dependant persons in Tajikistan.  56.7 percent of the heroin users are injecting drug users (IDUs).

Speaking to reporters, Tajik drug control kingpin also noted Tajikistan had sent documents necessary for establishment of the SCO regional antidrug center in Dushanbe for consideration to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Headquarters.  

He also noted that the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center (CARICC) had been established under financial support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Established in November 2007, CARICC is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.   The center was established under an agreement signed by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  CARICC was established to introduce an intelligence approach to counter the problem of drug trafficking and organized crime and to improve cooperation between these agencies.  In order to ensure that information regarding cross border criminal activities is acted upon swiftly, the Centre is staffed by liaison officers from law enforcement agencies of the member states.  The Center serves as a regional focal point for communication, analysis and exchange of operational information in "real time" on cross-border crime, as well as a centre for organization and coordination of joint operations.

According to Nazarov, an official opening of the project will be held in the near future and selection of candidates to work with CARICC is under way.