Russian leaders have spent too long making no effort to help its population and this is the result. People with no money and no future have very little incentive to not take drugs, they have nothing else to look forward to. The fact that it is such a materialistic society and yet has one of the largest gaps possible between rich and poor makes it a horrible place to live for the have nots. The government could fix the Kroc problem with a ban on codene in chemists but drug companies make too much money from this epidemic to let that happen.