Decolonizing addiction treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Confronting Russian narcology and Western retreat
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14908705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lyu Azbel (Yale University, corresponding author), Mary Tate (0009-0008-0640-5558), Mary M Tate (Cambridge School), Viktoria Akerø (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network), Frederick L Altice (0000-0002-7860-693X, Yale University), Sergey Dvoryak (0000-0002-0032-5417), Сергій Дворяк (Ukrainian Institute of Public Health Policy) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 149 |
| Pages | 105154 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Drug Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0955-3959 • E-ISSN: 1873-4758 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105154 |
| PMID | 41558227 |
| OpenAlex | W7125137883 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 31 |
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) face a dual crisis in addiction treatment. On one side, Russian imperial legacies persist through punitive "narcology," now weaponized amid ongoing aggression. On the other, Western retrenchment, marked by abrupt aid suspensions and dwindling harm-reduction budgets, has weakened the evidence-based counterweight that once challenged authoritarian approaches. The result is a convergence of punitive logics that marginalizes people who use drugs, whether through active repression, such as the closure of methadone programs in Crimea, or sudden neglect, such as the withdrawal of donor funding for opioid agonist therapy in Tajikistan. We call for a decolonial, community-driven response grounded in non-reformist reform and transformative discomfort-one that reduces harm while dismantling punitive systems and embraces the tensions of shared authority and care. Drawing on the case of self-run addiction treatment in Kyrgyz prisons, we call for resourcing user-led infrastructures as models for decolonial directions in global health amid a splintering global health world order
Agency (philosophy · Authoritarianism · Closure (psychology · Harm · Paternalism · Punitive damages · Shame · Transformative learning · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Soviet and Russian History
Policing Drug Users in Russia
Global patterns of opioid use and dependence
The uses of knowledge in global health
Decolonising global health
Russian Political Discourse on Illegal Drugs
Decisional considerations for methadone uptake in Kyrgyz prisons
Treatment of opioid use disorder in Ukraine during the first year of the Russia–Ukraine war
Drugs as an existential threat
Islamic Tibb and Soviet Medicine
Managing drugs in the prisoner society
The collective body
Addiction Treatment as Prison Governance
East is East? Beyond the Global North and Global South in Criminology
Stalled Scale-Up of Opioid Agonist Therapies for HIV Prevention in Kazakhstan
Sovereign Rules and Rearrangements
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |