US seeks to strengthen anti-drug cooperation with Russia

Strengthening anti-drug cooperation with Russia remains a priority of the United States Administration, according to the U.S. 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, published by the White House on Tuesday. The document urged the countries to “enhance the relationship” developed under the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Counternarcotics Working Group (CNWG). “Since the creation of the CNWG, U.S. and Russian law enforcement authorities have conducted cooperative enforcement operations and engaged in numerous joint training activities,” the strategy says. “The United States and Russia have also engaged in extensive exchanges on initiatives that effectively reduce the demand for drugs, including visits by Russian authorities to prevention, treatment, and recovery agencies and programs in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, and the Washington, D.C. area,” it says. “These exchanges have yielded results, including an effort by the Russian Government to establish alternatives to incarceration for minor or first time offenders, offering treatment in lieu of jail time when appropriate,” the document says.