DUSHANBE, June 29, Asia-Plus -- The number of drug-dependent people has been increasing in Tajikistan, Major Bobojon Shofiyev, an officer form the Drug Control Agency (DCA), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

Referring to dates from the Ministry of Health, the drug control officer said 8,645 people diagnosed with drug abuse were officially registered with narcology dispensaries in 2008.  “Compared to 2007 the number of drug-dependent people last year increased by 0.9 percent in the country,” Major Shofiyev said.

In the southern Khatlon province, the number of officially registered drug-dependent people increased from 1,023 in 2007 to 1,305 in 2008 and in districts subordinate to the center (RRPs), the number of drug-dependent people increased from over the report period from 851 to 1,023, according to him.

In the meantime, the number of officially registered drug-dependent dependent people in Dushanbe and Sughd province decreased from 4,316 and 1,673 in 2007 to 4,154 and 1,429 in 2008 respectively.