President after Consultative Council for National Security: The state should apply its full force against those producing and distributing drugs

"We have reached a consensus that the Bulgarian government and the Bulgarian Parliament will make the necessary changes to the legislative framework so that the state can apply its full force against all those who produce and distribute narcotic substances and steal the future of our children and our country."

This was commented by President Rumen Radev following the Consultative Council for National Security, dedicated to the risks posed by the spread of drugs.

The council discussed various reports which revelaed that:

• The age at which young people first encounter alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes is continually dropping;
• New psychoactive substances are constantly appearing on the drug market, many of which are prepared in home laboratories;
• the online drug trade is growing steadily and many sites are operated abroad.

Representatives of the authorities have come together with proposals to amend the legislative framework, the Criminal Code, and the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as to adopt and ratify the "Medicrime" convention.

"I would like to congratulate the political parties, the National Assembly, the Ministry of Interior, the Agency for Child Protection, the public organisations, and the media for taking concrete actions in this regard. This issue is a matter of national security, and it concerns our future as a nation," Rumen Radev said.

"Currently, many acts are prohibited, but psychoactive substances are flooding in from all directions, and here we are not only talking about vapes. Drugs are being offered around and even inside schools. Cigarettes, alcohol, energy drinks are freely sold around schools, and smoking and drinking even take place in schoolyards. Websites that should be banned continue to operate undisturbed for months. Nightclubs – many of them, not all, where anything is consumed – are full of minors. We know that even the best laws, if there is no effective control, will have minimal effect, which is why our expectation from the executive branch is for a continuous strengthening of control," the President commented.

The most important part of this battle is prevention, Rumen Radev said:

"This means a comprehensive approach and efforts to strengthen the personal resilience of every young person. When this young person is offered drugs, they should have the inner conviction and strength to say no."

According to him, this prevention starts in the family, which is why, on behalf of the entire consultative council, he urged parents to talk to their children and be interested in the environment they are in.

"Dear parents, don't turn a blind eye to the reality that sooner or later our children, rather sooner than you expect, will be offered drugs. Once they accept them, there is no guarantee that they will return to a normal life. Talk to them, be interested in how they spend their free time, the environment they are in, and do not leave them alone to close themselves off with the problems they face from their first serious clashes with the social environment."

The state is not abdicating from these problems, and the purpose of today’s Consultative Council for National Security is precisely to strengthen its role in fighting this issue, the President emphasised.

The convening of the Consultative Council for National Security came after a series of incidents over the past two months involving young people using vaping devices with narcotic substances, which also led to the death of a 14-year-old child in Pleven.

A study by the National Centre for Public Health shows that nearly 13% of the population in Bulgaria has used some form of narcotic substance at least once.