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Checks at Siberian kindergartens as three children in hospital with ‘Spice’ drug poisoning

Three children were being treated after one of the girls "spiced" what they were preparing in a cooking game with what turned out to be a real "Spice" drug, the Russian Healthcare Ministry reports

© ITAR-TASS Archive/Mikhail Malykhin

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Russian anti-drug chief blames foreign intelligence services for mass ‘spice’ poisoning

NOVOSIBIRSK, October 5. /TASS/. All kindergartens in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk will be checked after an incident in which three five-year-olds were taken to hospital on October 2 with "Spice" drug synthetic marijuana poisoning, Novosibirsk Mayor Anatoly Lokot ruled on Monday.

Three children were being treated after one of the kindergarten girls "spiced" what they were preparing in a cooking game with what turned out to be a real "Spice" drug, the Russian Healthcare Ministry reported.

Two children are still in hospital, but their condition is said to be fair. The third child was discharged at the request of parents.

Mayor Lokot said law enforcement officers would check all kindergartens for drug caches as it seemed dealers calculated it would be safe to keep stock in a kindergarten, a place unlikely to be searched for narcotics.

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Against the background of public outcry, Russia's Public Chamber is seeking tougher punishment for such actions, "envisaging life imprisonment for sales of drugs on the territories of kindergartens, schools and other educational establishments," the chamber’s Vladimir Slepak said on Monday.

Slepak, chairman of the Social Policy, Labour Relations and Quality of Life Committee, called for urgent checks of all educational institutions for children.

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Fight against drugs

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