The number of heroin addicts in Bulgaria was between 20 000 and 30 000, Kalin Mihov, deputy head of Interior Ministry's chief directorate for combatting organized crime (CDCOC) said at a Sofia-Moscow teleconference on August 27 2008, Bulgarian news agency BTA said. Synthetic drugs tended to oust heroin because they were cheaper, Mihov said.

Although Bulgaria's law-enforcement bodies fought drug trafficking, a large part of the drugs that entered Bulgaria were distributed locally because the key players on the market prefered to pay traffickers in drugs rather than in cash, he noted.

Furthermore, after the busting of a number of synthetic drug laboratories in Serbia, their production was transferred to Bulgaria. In recent years, several laboratories were busted on Bulgarian territory as well.

In related news, a joint project on synthetic drugs prevention will be implemented next year in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Varna and Romania's Balck Sea town of Constanta, BTA said.

The idea was presented on August 26 2008 by commissioner Sorin Petrescu from Romania's national anti-drug agency and Borislav Stanchev, chief expert at Varna Municipality. Stanchev said that the great boom of heroin abuse has already passed in Varna. The number of heroin addicts has been constant in recent years and stands at between 2300 and 3000.

However, the use of amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy was growing fast. The worst thing was that young people were using these drugs in combination with alcohol, Stanchev said.

The abuse of drugs and alcohol in Constanta was lower than in Varna, Petrescu said.

The joint project to be implemented by the two cities will last two years. Romania will be the leading party counterpart and would apply for funding from the European Union. The idea was to combine the experience of both countries. Romanian experts were better in the implementation of prevention programmes for the whole population, but lacked experience in the work with risk groups, such as Roma, intravenous drug addicts and prostitutes, Stanshev said.