Moscow

Law Enforcement

People gave wildly different advice about a stop. Some talked about starting at US$500 for a bribe, going higher with more officers, and letting a fluent Russian speaker do the talking. They blamed new income reporting rules for higher demands, and assumed possession could mean years inside.

Others said under six grams meant a low fine and up to 30 might mean a larger fine or community work without prison. The newer Marijuana Laws section gives a different account of the risks. Those thresholds and claims about bribes aren’t dependable.

Where to Buy Marijuana

“Moscow has no street drug dealers,” was the emphatic verdict from someone who wouldn’t deal with a stranger. Other people mentioned squares and rynoks (markets), and suggested keeping away from train and Metro stations or parks after dark. Some gave appearance-based tips about people of Central Asian or Armenian descent. Looks were no guide to who was safe to approach.

I had more fun at trance, drum ’n’ bass and techno nights. Lots of young clubgoers spoke a little English, and plenty smoked.

I’d found smoke from Tashkent to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk by talking to people, sometimes someone offering to introduce me to a sex worker. I wouldn’t show my cash or hand it over first. Some sellers preferred U.S. dollars to rubles.

Words used in the accounts

“Vui s’nyet gdye mozhna kupit anasha?” roughly asked where to buy marijuana. Anasha could mean low-grade leaf. Shishki meant flowers or buds, and gashish meant hash. Black rubber could pass for black hash. There was also talk of a thumb-and-little-finger gesture to the mouth, attributed to Deaf street sellers and said to be known across the former Soviet Union. That was a sweeping claim, not a universal sign.

Marijuana Prices

500–600 rubles for wild weed in a matchbox, usually around five grams unless you got a “greedy Moscow matchbox.” The same quote bought a gram of hash. Hydro could go to US$100 a matchbox. A 500-ruble box might turn out to be a substitute with barely any weed.

Hash was also quoted at 400–800 rubles or US$100 for five grams, with the equivalent in buds sometimes a little less. Prices felt high against the cost of living. Leaf was like grass clippings and more headache than buzz.

Types of Marijuana

Local-looking rough pot through to good Amsterdam hydro. People claimed most weed was imported from nearby countries, with hash largely from Central Asia and occasional Lebanese or Nepalese. Quality varied wildly.

I heard tar might be added to hash. If it tastes funny, throw it out. Sometimes it felt easier to find green in Singapore.

Russia; the period travel details gave UTC/GMT+7 and +095. Those listings are historical and don’t reflect present-day Moscow time or dialing.

More Information

A small cannabis glossary

• Dudka, trava, chai: words the contributor used for weed; chai literally means tea.
• Gydra or gydrapon: hydroponic weed.
• Boshki or shishki: buds.
• Boks or korobok: a box-sized quantity, with inconsistent weights in the reports.
• Garik, hesh or kamen: hash-related terms in the source.
• Plastilin: a term used for soft hash.

The older city tale

After 1991, the fall of the Soviet regime brought new freedoms to a sprawling city of nine million, in the west of a country of 17 million square kilometers. Its party scene came with risks. Mark Ames of The Exile called the People’s University area famous for drugs. Dangerous? “Not as dangerous as sobriety.” He also called drug use hugely illegal and police intolerant unless paid off.

Felice Wilson, a journalist who’d lived in Moscow a year, said police corruption was a concern and soft drugs were widely available among younger people. Neighborhoods didn’t necessarily divide by money and status, and she didn’t think drug use was confined to a particular part of town.

Possession or sale had been described as carrying up to three years. In 1997, more than 90% of those prosecuted on drug charges were reportedly users. April 1998 rules were described as allowing prison even for one dose or being under the influence, and blood or urine tests on suspicion. Duma deputy Yuly Rybakov expected more convictions of petty users. Activists handed out legalization leaflets and reported threats of arrest. Period figures put arrests over 250,000 in 1998 and seizures over 60 tons in 1999. A June 2000 amendment targeted publications and websites carrying information on drug production, preparation, use, alleged medical advantages or sales. In the mid-1990s, Russia reported nearly a million hectares of wild hemp and poppies, and a government estimate from seizures put annual drug-market growth at 30%.

Cops can crop up from nowhere in parks. If that puts you off, Russia has Stolichnaya and plenty of other vodka. The local drink was still legal, “at least for now.”