A 20-year-old Vitebsk resident earned money for his family by delivering spice

A Vitebsk resident, Pavel, got married in March, and by June, he was already meeting his wife in a pre-trial detention center. Two weeks after his arrest, his young wife gave birth to a daughter. The baby will grow up without her father for a very long time. He faces up to 15 years of imprisonment. There are no suspended sentences or deferrals for the charge of illegal acquisition, storage, and distribution of mixes.

More than 50 "dope" stashes made by Pavel were discovered in Vitebsk and Mogilev. The accused himself drove the operatives to the locations. Fortunately, these fifty doses did not reach consumers. But how many did? It is difficult to establish now, but in the dormitory room, during a search in the presence of the pregnant owner, about a kilogram of packaged and unpackaged mixes was seized.

Pavel explained that he found the "job" online. He picked up the cargo in a forest belt near the Vitebsk-Smolensk highway, packaged it, and distributed it. He recorded the addresses and exact locations of the stashes on a voice recorder. Then he sent these files to unknown partners who sold the mixes directly to consumers. For his intermediary services, Pavel was supposed to receive a fixed salary of $1,500 per month.

How candid is the accused in court? Even the judge does not know. But in any case, the details will not change the article of the Criminal Code or the prison sentence. Mashenka will have to grow up without a father. Her parents, who are quite respectable and taught their son in college, where he received a technologist profession, arranged his wedding, and secured a dormitory for the young family, also have no consolation. Their son's arrest was a complete surprise to them. How did Pavel live without working? Yes, of course, they asked themselves this question more than once, but who knows what explanations there could be in such a case – he was working unofficially, looking for a stable job…

Practice shows that in cases of both distribution and consumption of spice or mixes by children, parents are somehow the last to find out about it.

…Recently, in broad daylight, I encountered a young man of about 17-18 years old at a pedestrian crossing. He stopped nearby, and the whole group of townspeople hurrying about their business involuntarily recoiled. We were met with bottomless black, completely insane eyes. The boy was clearly under the influence of unknown psychotropic drugs. Fortunately, the light turned green, and as if by agreement, we rushed to the other side of the road. A couple of minutes later, I looked back and mentally crossed myself - the boy went in a completely different direction. True, there were people there too…

While familiarizing myself with Pavel's criminal case, I recalled this story not by chance. Perhaps it was that boy from the pedestrian crossing who used the services of the young family man, who found nothing better than to provide for his wife and future child through a "bad" business.

By the way, Pavel is only 20 years old, and his daughter is now only 5 months old…

Elena Begunova, "SB Belarus Segodnya"