Last week, the first protest against the distribution of drugs was held in the capital's Roma neighborhood "Hristo Botev".
This is not the first time the state has declared war on drugs. Decades after the mass entry of various types of drugs into our country, the problem remains unresolved. The fatal cases in recent months are a series - from the drug party in Blagoevgrad, which ended with the death of an underage girl, to the case in the center of Sofia, where a man was thrown out of the Lion's Bridge area after not paying for his drugs.
A few days ago, footage on social networks showed a visible underage boy barely standing on his feet at a bus stop in the capital's "Hristo Botev" district. According to local residents, his condition is fully consistent with the effects of fentanyl – the new hit of the Bulgarian drug market.
We take you through the streets of the neighborhood, where drugs are already being talked about as a pandemic, and the locals exchange mutual accusations while they wait for the state to solve the problem. "Here, the children of friends, relatives, many people fall into the streets. It's terrible to watch them. I personally have saved several people who had swallowed their tongues in the neighborhood. They spray fentanyl into the herb - this is the newest drug. This is a pandemic", says Dimitar Borisov, a resident of the "Hristo Botev" neighborhood.
Hundreds of doses of fentanyl were seized during a special operation in Sofia
"Nobody bothers them. There are police all the time, but apparently someone is guarding them. Don't you see what's happening at the bus stops? The children smoke one herb each and don't know where they are. They turn into zombies," says Atanas Dimitrov.
The family of Ani and Metodi is also affected by drugs. Their son started using drugs as a teenager. He has been addicted for more than 10 years, and some time ago he was stabbed in the leg because of a drug debt. "My son is 30 years old. He trained for "Levski" for eight years, but then he fell into bad company and ended up with the person who had been poisoning him for years. Finally, he stabbed him with a knife," says the mother, Ani Georgieva.
"This person is still at large. Doctors cannot guarantee that my son will fully recover. Everything happened in a public place, and he could lose a leg," adds the father, Metodi Boychev.
What are the risks of modern drugs among young people
With just a few messages, a person can get drugs in less than an hour in any area of Sofia. Roma neighborhoods are often cited as places with mass drug distribution. However, it was in "Hristo Botev" that local residents protested against drugs. Who is behind the distribution of drugs in the neighborhood remains without an official answer for now. This is a question that institutions have yet to answer.