Drug Control Agency Employees Day in Tajikistan Date in the current year: June 1, 2024

Due to its proximity to the Golden Crescent – a major area of illicit opium production that covers parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran – Tajikistan is a transit and destination country for illicit drug trafficking, particularly heroin trade. The second most established drug market in Tajikistan after the heroin market is the cannabis market; as with opium and heroin, most of cannabis is trafficked across the Tajik border with Afghanistan.

Tajikistan has the longest border with Afghanistan in Central Asia, stretching for approximately 1,400 kilometers. The majority of this border lies in inaccessible mountainous areas, which makes is extremely hard to protect and makes Tajikistan vulnerable to illicit drug trafficking and drug-related threats and challenges. Due to this, Tajikistan is a key player in the fight against drug trafficking in Central Asia, especially given the large scale of illicit opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and the increasing production of synthetic drugs in the region. In 2020, Tajikistan was ranked 11th in the list of countries with the largest opiate seizures.

The first state drug control body in independent Tajikistan, the Department for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was created in 1994. Two years later, it was replaced by the State Commission on Drug Control of the Republic of Tajikistan.

On April 27, 1999, the President of Tajikistan and the UN Deputy Secretary General signed a protocol on the establishment of a drug control agency directly subordinate to the Tajikistani head of state. The State Commission on Drug Control was officially reorganized into the Drug Control Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan by a presidential decree signed on June 1, 1999.

The Agency is responsible for implementing the state policy in the area of combating illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs. Its wide range of responsibilities includes ensuring compliance with the country’s anti-drug legislation, preventing drug abuse, and more. To perform its tasks, the Agency works in close cooperation with the State Committee for National Security and other relevant agencies, authorities, and organizations.

In 2006, Tajikistan joined the newly established Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors (CARICC), an anti-drug trafficking organization that facilitates cooperation between drug control authorities of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Drug Control Agency Employees Day was added to the list of official holidays and observances in Tajikistan in 2022. Like all professional holidays in the country, it is a working day unless it falls during a weekend.