Hillgartner and Bosk Social Arena

1070 Words5 Pages
Hilgartner and Bosk define a social problem as “a putative condition or situation that actors label as a “problem” in the arenas of public discourse and action, defining it as harmful and framing its definition in particular ways”. (1.Hillgartner and Bosk 1988) In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan engaging in a brutal 10 year conflict. This kick started the Afghan opium trade. Opium was sold all over the world to fund the fight against the Soviets, but the main customer of the opium were the Russians themselves. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s heroin problem continued to grow. So much so, that in 2011 the country has become the worlds largest customer of heroin, with an unofficial estimate of two million users. With a southern border of more than 4000 miles long, the patrol area stretches greater than the distance from New York to London. It is no surprise the drug trade is out of control. Worst of all there is a new moonshine drug on the rise called krokodil that has some terrifying consequences. The Siberian city of Novokuznetsk, lies just over the Russian border with Kazakstan, it is one of the cities that is on front line of this heroin and krokodile epidemic. Once a Siberian industrial powerhouse, now this city has fallen into decline, with 20% of its population allegedly addicted to heroin. Nowhere are Russia’s drug problems more evident than in Novokuznetsk. The city is full of areas with derelict buildings that are being squatted by addicts as a place to use and live. Everywhere there are syringes being trashed over the streets of this once profitable city. The once purpose built housing estates for the soviet workforce are now imposing tower blocks of empty shells. The people living in these abandoned buildings demount old buildings and sell metal, flooring and cinder blocks to sell and
Open Document