By Gevorg Tosunyan
On a crisp morning in Yerevan, inside the sterile walls of a rehabilitation center, Armen (name changed) sits with his shoulders slightly hunched, his weathered hands fidgeting as he recounts the moment that set his life on an unexpected trajectory. “It started innocently enough,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper, “just one smoke of cannabis when I was a teenager.” He pauses, his eyes fixed on a distant point. “I had no idea that a single puff would lead to health problems and, eventually, the complete breakdown of my family.”
Armen’s story begins not in the shadows of addiction but in the bright spotlights of gymnastics competitions. As a young athlete, he showed tremendous promise, and his body was trained to perform feats of strength and precision. But beneath the surface of athletic achievement, a different story was unfolding.
“After that first time, it became regular,” he recalls. “By the time I was 38, I had spent three years experimenting with various substances. It got really bad – I was even inhaling gasoline.” His voice breaks slightly as he continues, “That’s when my teeth started deteriorating. They all had to be removed eventually.”
Today, within the confines of the National Center for Addiction Treatment, Armen is methodically reconstructing the life that nearly slipped away entirely. A glimmer of hope crosses his face when he speaks about his daughter: “I’m clean now, and things are improving. I get to see my daughter on Fridays and Sundays. We work around her school schedule.” It’s a small victory, but in the world of addiction recovery, these modest wins can mark the beginning of a profound transformation.
Numbers tell a sad story
The narrative of Armenia’s drug crisis is written not just in personal stories like Armen’s but in stark statistical trends that have alarmed law enforcement and health professionals alike. According to detailed records from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the country has witnessed an unprecedented surge in drug-related crimes. Between 2018 and 2022, cases skyrocketed by 158%, followed by another dramatic 124% increase from 2022 to 2023.
The raw numbers are even more striking: by 2023, authorities documented 2,802 cases of illegal drug circulation—a 172% jump from the previous year’s 1,031 cases. The first six months of 2024 alone saw 1,800 cases, suggesting the upward trend shows no signs of slowing.
Dr. Aghasi Davtyan, a psychiatrist-narcologist at the National Center for Addiction Treatment, has been on the frontlines of this crisis since 2021. With ten underage patients under his care, he’s observed a disturbing pattern that has become almost predictable in its progression.
“The gateway is almost always cigarettes,” he explains, seated in his office surrounded by medical texts and patient files. “Then comes the social element – older, more experienced friends who introduce marijuana. If that initial experimentation doesn’t result in hospitalization, if that psychological barrier is broken, the progression to other substances becomes almost inevitable.” He notes with particular concern the role of technology: “These days, most of the subsequent drug procurement happens through Telegram channels.”
The digital marketplace
The internet, particularly messaging platforms like Telegram, has revolutionized drug distribution in ways that have left law enforcement struggling to keep pace. The anonymous nature of these digital platforms has created what one official termed “a 24/7 drug supermarket in every teenager’s pocket.”
This digital dimension has contributed to a disturbing trend observed by Ruzanna Yeremyan from the NGO “Together We Can”: “The age of first use keeps dropping,” she explains. “If in 2019-2020 our primary concern was military-age young men, we’re now regularly encountering cases of 13-year-olds experimenting with drugs. The accessibility through digital platforms has completely changed the landscape of youth drug use.”
At the National Center for Addiction Treatment, the laboratory processes hundreds of samples daily, each representing a potential case of substance abuse. The scope of the problem reaches into unexpected corners of society – recent investigations led to the dismissal of 47 police officers who tested positive for drug use, highlighting how pervasive the issue has become.
Dr. Gohar Hayrapetyan, who heads the laboratory, notes a particularly troubling shift in drug preferences: “While cannabis remains common, we’re seeing a marked increase in synthetic drug use. These substances are particularly dangerous because their composition can be unpredictable, and their effects more severe.”
The psychological impact of drug use on young people has emerged as a critical concern. Dr. Davtyan describes a pattern of deterioration that can be both rapid and severe: “The early signs often go unnoticed by families. Users may go days without sleep, their eating patterns become severely disrupted due to stimulant use. Then the paranoia sets in – we see young people searching their homes for imaginary recording devices, convinced they’re under surveillance. They might become obsessed with the idea that police cars are following them.”
This mental health dimension compounds the challenge of treatment. “When we finally see these young patients,” Dr. Davtyan continues, “it’s often difficult to determine whether their psychological symptoms are drug-induced or represent underlying conditions that may have contributed to their substance use in the first place.”
Psychologist Alina Saroyan emphasizes that addressing the crisis requires a deep understanding of family dynamics. In her practice, she’s encountered not only children struggling with addiction but also parents whose behaviors inadvertently contribute to the problem.
“The family environment is crucial,” she explains. “We often see cases where parents are either completely unaware of the warning signs or, in some cases, their own substance use has normalized these behaviors for their children.”
Yeremyan points to a fundamental challenge of modern parenting: “We have a generation of young people with smartphones that can connect them to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Many parents are struggling to navigate this new reality, to find the balance between trust and supervision.”
Despite the grim statistics and challenging cases, professionals working in addiction treatment and prevention see reasons for hope. The increased attention to the problem has led to more resources for treatment and prevention.
Education initiatives are being developed that address not just the dangers of drug use but also the underlying factors that make young people vulnerable to addiction. These programs increasingly incorporate digital literacy components, acknowledging technology’s role in the problem and its potential solutions.
As Armen continues his recovery journey, his story serves as a warning and a beacon of hope. “I lost so much,” he reflects, “but I’m getting it back, piece by piece. If sharing my story can help even one young person avoid this path, then something good can come from all of this.”
As Armenia grapples with this growing challenge, experts emphasize that success will require a coordinated effort involving families, schools, healthcare providers, and law enforcement. The official statistics, troubling as they are, likely underrepresent the true scope of the problem, as many cases go unreported. As Dr. Davtyan puts it, “We’re not just treating addiction; we’re trying to heal families and communities. It’s a challenge that requires all of us working together.”
