Petersburg in the late '90s: a psychotropic revolution?

Alexander Buriachko

Narcotics became fashionable in both Russian capitals in 1992-93. Dreaming of an independent and free life "like in the West," the "Pepsi generation"—fashion-conscious, "progressive," and materially well-to-do—has been actively sniffing, popping, and shooting up various domestic and foreign-made preparations the last two or three years. In terms of the volume of its narcobusiness, Petersburg occupies the number two position in Russia, after Moscow (this, by the way, is true of other profitable sectors of the economy). It is mainly synthetic drugs that arrive at the Northern Capital’s port: ecstasy, LSD, speed, heroin, methadone, artificial cocaine. Naturally-growing coke is very rarely imported. Local labs have learned to produce several new types of drugs—the "Petersburg acid" known throughout Russia, PCP, angel dust. Seven years ago, psylocybic mushrooms, a powerful psychotropic narcotic very popular in the West, were discovered for the first time in Leningrad Oblast. Every fall, hordes of Petersburg high schoolers and university students make their way "to the fields" to gather "magic mushrooms," lay them in for the winter, and, of course, sell them. In the winter, one toadstool (twenty to thirty are needed for a good trip) costs 1000-1500 rubles in Petersburg; in Moscow, one dollar (one dollar is worth approximately 6,000 rubles).

Most young people prefer non-addictive drugs. These include the psychedelics—LSD, PCP, angel dust, mushrooms—and amphetamines-MDMA, speed, ephedrine solutions. Marijuana and hashish are used (in varying amounts) by the entire younger generation, and perhaps in the near future they will be legalized. None of these drugs causes withdrawal symptoms (or simply "the breaks," as it is termed in the argot of addicts). It is, however, as easy to get into the habit of using them as is the case with alcohol and tobacco.

Unprocessed opiates, or "black," the most widely used drugs of the 1970s and 1980s, are not particularly popular among young people in the late 1990s. Because of its cheapness, "black" remains the prerogative of people without the financial means to acquire more expensive and high-quality drugs and of those who are simply "fried." One of the hardest and most fashionable drugs in recent times, heroin has already has taken hold of an enormous number of gullible boys and girls in the First Capital: as a popular proverb puts it, "My mother is Moscow, my father is Heroin." Now it has reached Petersburg—in the darkness of our city’s nightclubs one can often behold quiet young junkies tenderly scratching their swollen faces.

As in any of the world’s major cities, institutions of higher education and nightclubs are the principal places for the buying and selling of drugs in Petersburg. Narcobusiness flourishes among the students of Petersburg State, Finek [the University of Finance and Economics], the Herzen Institute, the Cinematography Institute, the Academy of Culture, the Korabelka [the Shipbuilding Institute]. Each institution has its own specialty, depending on the tastes of its student contingent. A young philologist, say, or an Orientalist prefers "intellectual" psychedelics and treats his friends to them. A business school student offers his comrades a dose of good Dutch "brown sugar" (a variety of heroin) or a couple of pinches of cocaine; a first-year film student sells a cup of excellent Chui Valley hashish, and a lad from the Korabelka serves up a "fresh and loaded accordion" (a sterile syringe with a prepared solution of "black"). The deals made in the educational institutions are the most profitable; the acquisition and use of the substances take place in a friendly atmosphere. The university dealer is usually a close acquaintance, a good friend: you can always organize a great drug party with him and, on the weekends, go into the country to make a trip "in the mushrooms" б la Huxley or Castaneda. Finally, you can head to a rave party at a nightclub. Here the choice of drugs depends on the style of the club itself and the music performed.

Dancing to the fast, harsh techno rhythms in the Planetarium or the Tunnel is best after popping some "E" ($20 per tablet) or snorting some "speed" ($10 per line). At an ambient or acid-jazz party at the Griboedov Club, one can get a dose of mushrooms or a "stamp" (PCP-$5; LSD-$15-20). Obtaining drugs in clubs is not without its hazards: club pushers always raise the prices, and often they simply sell fakes—adulterated hash, citric acid instead of speed. Also, the muscular lads from the ONON (Illegal Drug Traffic Department) and OMON [Special Militia Detachment] squads, in masks and toting automatics, recently have been frequenting many Petersburg clubs. If you are caught in possession of narcotic substances during such a "planned" raid, you stand every chance of getting "two years" or a "suspended sentence" (article 228 of the Criminal Code). If the dope happens to be found by chance during an ordinary frisking on the street, you can get off merely with beaten kidneys or "come to an understanding."

Apart from universities and nightclubs, where deals are made mostly among people who know each other well and the dealer is more of a friend than a salesman, there are plenty of "points" in the city where real business is transacted. In such places the drug market has long since transformed itself into a well-organized structure with stable internal and external contacts. In the central districts the selling is concentrated at the major markets—Nekrasovsky, Kuznechny, Vasileostrovsky. There the hucksters mainly sell domestically produced products and medicines. On Haymarket Square, Grannie Vera and Grannie Galya tear a jar of Solutan, a "platform" of Sidnacarp or Cyclodol from their hearts for you, while the proud Caucasians around the Oktiabrskaya Hotel offer methadone.

Shrouded in an incredible number of mystical stories and rumors, the market on Dybenko Street occupies a special place in Petersburg’s drug scene. At "Dyby" one can always obtain every possible type of black and white "scratch" (drugs which are injected), "sour" (vinegar anhydride), essential accessories—"accordions" (syringes) and "quills" (needles)—and all the rest. The way to Dyby and back is difficult and resembles a computer role-playing game. First, you have to know the correct route in order to avoid encounters with agents of the local Interior Ministry police. Second, you should always reject offers of the "Wouldn’t-you-like-something?" type and seek out the seller yourself. Finally, having purchased your stuff without mishap, you should immediately beat a path away from the ill-starred place.

Drugs swiftly and imperceptibly have become the dominant component of the Petersburg youth subculture at the end of the 1990s. Some people say that a so-called psychotropic revolution has already come about.