(MOSCOW) - More than 30,000 people die from drug abuse each year in Russia -- eight times more the number of drug-related fatalities in the European Union, the Russian anti-drugs unit said Wednesday.

The Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation (FSKN) estimated that since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, drug use has soared in Russia and drug-related drugs are now about eight times greater than in the European Union.

"Russia loses 30,000 people each year to drug abuse, the majority of them young people," FSKN director Viktor Ivanov said, quoted by Interfax.

Ivanov said there were 78,000 drug addicts in 2007 in Russia, up from 70,000 regular users in 2006.

He added that 90 percent of Russian addicts took Afghan-imported heroin.

Moscow has been critical recently of Kabul and its international allies for failing to clamp down on opium production and the flow of illegal drugs into Russia from Afghanistan.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.