The government floated the idea of such non-obligatory tests in its broader strategy of combatting drug-related crimes which was discussed by lawmakers on Thursday.
According to police data, the total number of such officially registered crimes surged from 877 in 2018 to over 5,000 last year. It doubled in 2023 alone.
The upward trend is widely blamed on increasingly accessible synthetic drugs mainly sold through the internet and, in particular, the social media platform Telegram. Links to Telegram channels selling such narcotics can commonly be seen painted on residential buildings and other public areas across Yerevan.
The problem has prompted serious concern from not only opposition politicians but also parliament deputies representing the ruling Civil Contract party. They are particularly worried about drug trafficking in or around schools, which was virtually non-existent in Armenia several years ago.
Some pro-government lawmakers have called for all teenage school students to be regularly subjected to mandatory drug tests. Former Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian, who was sacked last month, backed the idea when he spoke in the National Assembly in October 2023.
The government strategy, which has not yet been formally approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet, proposes a less radical solution whereby such testing would be “voluntary.”
Suren Nazinian, the director of the National Center for Treatment of Addictions, spoke out against the idea, saying that students testing positive for various drugs could be stigmatized and discriminated against. He also argued that underage drug addicts typically show behavioral symptoms that can be easily noticed by their parents or teachers. The authorities should concentrate instead on educating them and raising their awareness of adverse effects of drug abuse, added Nazinian.
The government strategy envisages mandatory drug tests for law-enforcement and military personnel. Members of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security discussed it with the new interior minister, Arpine Sargsian, behind the closed doors on Thursday.
“According to the strategy, the fight against drugs will start from schools and end with the ministries of internal affairs and defense,” the deputy chairman of the committee, Armen Khachatrian, said after the meeting.
The increased drug-related cases have been a key factor behind considerable annual rise in Armenia’s overall crime rate registered since the 2018 “velvet revolution.” Critics claim that the country is not as safe as it used to be because its current government is more incompetent and softer on crime than the previous ones.