National anti-drug strategy
National Report on Drug Situation
Republic of Bulgaria

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Legislation
International agreements
Bulgaria has ratified the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as well as the Protocol of 1972 amending it, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the 1988 UN Convention Against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances as well as to the Council of Europe Convention on Money Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime.

Bulgaria has signed bilateral agreements for co-operation in the field of customs with the UK, Greece, the USA, Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Iran, Albania and Moldova.

Bulgaria has signed a total of 29 agreements for police co-operation - 8 of those are with EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, France), 6 with CEE candidate countries (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic) and with 15 other countries (Armenia, Albania, Georgia, India, China, Lebanon, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Croatia, Yugoslavia). The signed agreements envisage co-operation between Bulgaria and the listed countries in the field of anti-drug activities.

Under Art. 5 (4) of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria the listed international treaties are part of the country’s domestic legislation and they supersede those Acts of domestic legislation which contradict them.

National legislation
The Penal Code specifies corpuses delicti of drug and precursor related crimes. The Penal-Procedure Code specifies the procedure for investigation and penalization of those crimes.
The National Assembly adopted amendments to the Penal Code (State Gazette, No. 26 of 30 March 2004) whereby Para. 3 of Article 354a was abolished. Prior to the amendments, persons addicted to narcotic drugs or their analogues were not criminally liable provided that the quantity they acquired, stored, possessed or transported was to an amount indicating a single dose. The new amendments aim to strengthen general prevention of drug supply at medium and street level combined with measures for compulsory treatment of addicts charged with possessing or storing narcotic drugs.
The Drug and Precursor Control Act has come into force as of October 1999. It was drawn up in compliance with UN Conventions for control and fight against drugs and precursors. The Act regulates the organisation, powers and tasks of the state bodies exercising control over drug and precursor related activities; measures against abuse and illegal trafficking of such substances; relevant scientific, research and expert activities. A number of sub-statutory acts have been adopted in compliance with the Drug and Precursor Control Act.

Institutional framework
The National Drugs Council (NDC) was set up in compliance with the Drug and Precursor control Act of 1999. It is the body responsible for the implementation of the national policy against drug abuse and drug trafficking. NDC is a collective body chaired by the Minister of Health. His Deputies are the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and a Deputy Minister of Justice. The members of the NDC are representatives of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Prosecution of Cassation, the Specialised Investigation Service and other concerned Ministries and institutions. NDC Chairman appoints a Secretary who is assisted by a Secretariat.
With a view to implementing the policy, NDC shall establish Municipal Drugs Councils. Their functions and tasks shall be defined by the Regulations for the organisation and functioning of NDC.
National Drugs Service at the Ministry of Health is the national competent body for control over all drug-related activities listed in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 of the Law for Control of Drugs and Precursors used for medical and scientific purposes. The National Drugs Service is assisting the Minister of Health in exercising control on fulfilment of obligations ensuing from international treaties Bulgaria is a party to.
Drug Inspectors with the Regional Health Centres exercise control on the territory of the country. They receive methodical guidance by the National Drugs Service.

National Drug Addictions Centre
The National Drug Addictions Centre is a body responsible for co-ordinating and providing methodical guidance on prevention, treatment, reduction of medical damages and rehabilitation of drug users and addicts. The National Drug Addictions Centre acts also as a body exercising specialised control of treatment; it is also a drug addictions expert body.
Interdepartmental Committee for Precursor Control attached to the Minister of Economy
An Interdepartmental Committee for control of chemical substances (precursors of narcotic substances) used for illegal production of drugs was set up under the Drugs and Precursors Control Act.
The Committee issue licences and registration certificates for precursor-related activities as well as export and import licences for those chemicals. The Interdepartmental Committee for Precursor Control is the national competent body for control over all precursor-related activities in compliance with Art. 12 the 1988 UN Convention Against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

Law enforcement bodies
The Ministry of Interior and “Customs” Agency at the Ministry of Finance are the law enforcement bodies responsible for fighting illegal drug trafficking and distribution in Bulgaria.
Under the Ministry of Interior Act the specialised services of the Ministry of Interior which are entrusted with tasks related to drug trafficking are the following:
National Security Service
National Police Service
National Service for Combating Organised Crime
National Border Police
Bulgarian Customs authorities, in compliance with their powers, organise and carry out activities of prevention and detection of illegal trafficking of drugs and precursors.
The clear definition of the responsibilities of the competent institutions, the parameter of their actions and coordination mechanism among them in the process of implementing the National Strategy will contribute to the effective fight against illegal drug trafficking, distribution and abuse of narcotic substances.

STRATEGIC CO-ORDINATION FUNCTION
A Co-ordination and Analysis Unit (CAU) has been established within Ministry of Interior.

NATIONAL FOCAL POINT
The Focal Point has been situated in the National Centre for Addictions, Ministry of Health. Focal Point has to provide data complying with EMCDDA standards.

MUNICIPAL DRUG COUNCILS
Municipal Drug Councils (MDC) have been established in compliance with Drugs and Precursors Control Act. Their functions and tasks have been outlined in the Regulations for the Organisation and Functioning of the National Drugs Council. MDC are a key element of the National Drugs Strategy delivery.
Prevention and Information Centres will be established at MDC as a functional element of the Municipal Councils and responsible for delivery of the set tasks and for ensuring operational co-ordination of activities.

DRUG ABUSE SITUATION
According to the expert estimates the probable approximate annual number of drug abusers for the year 2001 is, respectively by type of drug:
- Heroin - between 27 000 and 32 000;
- Cocaine - between 5 000 and 10 000;
- Various forms of cannabis - between 90 000 and 120 000;
- Amphetamines - between 5 000 and 15 000;
- Benzodiazepine - between 40 000 and 50 000;
- Hallucinogens - between 1 500 and 3 500;
- Volatile solvents - between 1 000 and 3 000.

Of course, one should bear in mind that:
One, the above applies to abusers of the most widely spread drugs in Bulgaria, but not all types of narcotic drugs;
Two, due to the existence of combined or supplemented abuse the aggregate of abusers with various drugs is not equal to the total number of abusers;
Three, the figures refer to annual number, i.e. persons who have used such substances at least once through the year, but may not be regular users, dependents, etc.
Source: National Centre for Addictions, Report to the UN
Currently almost the whole range of illegal narcotic substances is on offer in Bulgaria. That trend results in significant increase of the percentage of drug abusers both among the general population of young people and among students in particular. The most widely used drug is marihuana – according to a representative survey conducted in 2000, 24% of secondary school students in Sofia have tried cannabis at least once. This accounts for a three-fold increase compared to 1995 (9.2%).
Heroin presents the most serious threat to public health; over the past 5-6 years it accounted for over 90% of the cases when drug abusers sought treatment by the specialised units in Sofia. In most of the cases (over 75% of abusers during the same period) heroin is taken intravenously. The average age of those who sought treatment due to abuse of heroin in the period 1995-2001 has dropped from 24.7 down to 23.3. It is worth mentioned that in the past few years we have observed the stabilization relating the situation the heroin abuse.
It is worrying that in 2001 the percentage of the Hepatitis C infected people among the treated intravenous heroin addicts ranged from 60% to 70% depending on the population. The increased percentage of Hepatitis C carries is an indication of the real public and health risk of an outbreak of AIDS epidemic; it is also an indication of the progressive somatic damage and the necessity of complex health care for those people. We have identified 12 HIV positive among 7000 tested heroin addicts in the National Centre for Addictions over the past 8 years.

Seizures
The geographical location of Bulgaria along the so called Balkan route of heroin necessitates the pursuing of an active State policy to counteract the illegal traffic of narcotics and precursors. In the realisation of this policy the Bulgarian Customs Agency is to play a substantial role.
Within the framework of the Bulgarian Customs Agency there have been established, nationally and regionally, specialised structures. The priority objective of these structures is to prevent and seize the illegal traffic of narcotics and precursors. In these structures Customs Intelligence sections have been set up.
The Bulgarian Customs administration has conducted the activities in the field of drug trafficking customs intelligence and investigation since 1998. It carries out an exchange of Customs intelligence and historic information with the relevant international organizations, the customs and police authorities of different countries and the foreign customs and police liaison officers. One of the major premises for the successful counteraction to drugs related crimes is, on the one hand the good interaction among the national enforcement authorities and the efficient international co operation, on the other hand.
Fruitful co-operation has been established between the Bulgarian Customs Agency and the specialised bodies of Ministry of interior, in particular, with the Anti Drug Unit at the National Service of Combating Organised Crime. The conditions and the procedure for interaction between the Police and the Customs authorities are regulated in the Instruction on the Conditions and the Procedure for Interaction between the Customs Authorities and the bodies of the Ministry of the Interior on the Prevention and the Detection of Customs and Currency Violations and signed by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of the Interior on 26 August 2002. It regulates the information exchange and operational co-operation in the field of combating drug trafficking, including interaction in conducting controlled deliveries.
In 2003 the National Customs Agency and the National Service for Combating Organized Crime participated in three international operations on prevention and detection of drugs trafficking.
- E 70 operation on drug trafficking in buses and cars along the Balkan route that took place within the period of 13 – 19 April 2003;
- SPEEDWAY operation on drug trafficking in heavy vehicles along the Balkan route that took place within the period of 27 June – 8 July 2003;
- CONQUEST operation on heroine trafficking in maritime containers that took place within the period of 24 October – 5 November 2003.

As a result of the excellent cooperation between the Bulgarian Customs and police, a National Drug Intelligence Unit (NDIU) was established on 4 June 2003. The Unit comprises representatives of the competent services of the Ministry of the Interior (the National Service for Combating Organized Crime, the National Border Police Service, the National Police Service, the National Security Service), the Customs Agency, and the Financial Intelligence Agency. An Instruction on the terms and procedures for the interaction, organization of work and activities of the NDIU at the National Service for Combating Organized Crime was signed on 3 September 2003 by the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Finance.
The role of the NDIU in the process of operational liaison and co-ordination between the competent bodies is:
- To gather, store, analyze and disseminate information relating illegal traffic and distribution of narcotics drugs in order to support to the operational activities of the law enforcement services
- To identify common interest in persons involved in drug trafficking and supply and prevent duplication of efforts and resources;
- To integrate data received from various sources, target subjects, define information gaps and assign tasks to the competent authorities to collect the necessary information;
- To identify persons - including with the use of information provided by foreign agencies - to be included in the monitoring system in view of performing targeted checks by the Customs and the border police authorities;
- To develop common models for compatible collection of information;
- To study new modus operandi of illegal trafficking and distribution of narcotics drugs and inform the law enforcement bodies
- To support the activities of the Customs and police bodies on a national level when they participate in international operations for combating drug trafficking;
- To regularly produce situation reports on drug trafficking and supply and to provide them to the Directors of the law enforcement bodies

In 2003 the Balkan route continued to play a major role in drug transit to the countries of drug consumption. Meanwhile it has been found that the international drug trafficking groups intentionally avoid the “traditional Balkan route” because of the existing high level risk of seizure and more often prefer to choose new alternative routes. In the last few years this tendency has led to the occurrence of a large network of branches of the “Balkan route”. There are two main alternative routes for illegal trafficking of heroine - along the “Silk road”, from Afghanistan through the Central Asian Republics and Russia to West Europe and the south branch of the “Balkan route” through the Adriatic Sea. These analyses are included in the annual reports of the World Customs Organization, Interpol and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
A disturbing tendency is connected with the rise of synthetic drug illegal trafficking through Bulgaria or from Bulgaria to Turkey and the Middle East countries. In 2003 the Bulgarian customs authorities seized 395 kg of amphetamine in 10 cases in comparison with the year of 2002 when the seized amphetamine totals 27, 4 kg. in 3 cases.

Annex:DRUGS AND PRECURSORS SEIZURES (PDF)

 
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