Drug Crimes in the Light of Police Statistics for Six Months of 2025, or Can the Irrational Expenditure of State Resources Be Justified?

The 2022 police statistics demonstrate that 34,398 drug-related crimes have already been committed in 2022. In 2023, the police registered 39,124 drug-related crimes. In 2024, the police registered 48,233 drug-related crimes.

However, even for 6 months of 2025, 33,789 drug-related crimes were registered by the Ukrainian police. We can presume that more than 67 thousand drug-related crimes can be registered in 2025 if the same trend continues. At least, it means that even for six months of 2025, more than 70% of drug-related crimes have already been registered as compared with the number of drug-related crimes registered in 2024.

The importance of the fight against drug crime cannot be underestimated. However, the main question here is: Does the National Police of Ukraine effectively manage its personnel’s potential under wartime conditions?

The question is on the surface: drug-related crimes are mostly the crimes of peacetime. Considering closed borders, border checks, curfews, and roadblocks, the number of registered drug-related crimes should theoretically have decreased, not the other way around.

It seems that the mechanism of an artificial ‘market’ for drug-related crimes, where criminals are very often victims at the same time, and where police officers know who, where, and under what conditions will commit the next ‘crime’, ‘should not stand idle’ even during the War.