Daniel has been in a detox centre for over a month now. He says he's hoping to go to college, to get his life back on track when he gets out of the centre in two months time. Daniel says his addiction is only psychological now. Excepting the incident with the plate, he says he has been getting along well with the doctors.

Lucian Vasilescu, head of the pilot centre for drug addicts at the Alexandru Obregia psychiatric hospital says a person is no longer considered an addict after two years of abstinence. However, many of them don't get that far. The number who return to the centre for another period of treatment,

willingly or forced by their parents, is very large, he says. ìThey leave this place convinced they will never use drugs again. I don't know if it lasts an hour, a day, several weeks or a year,î Vasilescu says.

The doctor says it often happens for his patients to be blackmailed by their parents to come here. Those who come on their own are much easier to work with.

ìI ask them ëDo you take drugs because you have problems or do you have problems because you take drugs?' Those who manage to accept that they don't use drugs because of their problems, but problems start when they have entered into the world of drugs might have a chance,î Vasilescu says.

Razvan Paiu, a psychologist for Aliat - an organisation that gives syringes to drug addicts in order to minimise the risks involved in drug use - says that in the first stage of drug addiction, called ëthe honeymoon', the drug induces pleasure, the user has money to buy dope and blames others for treating him differently.

ìIt's a forbidden thing; the drug has a mystical, bohemian image. It's unpredictable. Even confronted with the messages that says ëDrugs kill' they say ëCool, let's try it!' It's tempting,î Paiu says. In addition to transmissible diseases such as Aids or hepatitis B, C, and D, some drug addicts get involved in prostitution. Some girls go on the street to get money for drugs, Paiu says.

ìAliat doesn't have accurate statistics to tell the number of male and female drug users. Only 25 per cent of the persons who come to us for syringes or counseling are female. We suspect the number of girls to be much higher, but they refuse to communicate, for fear of being accused or excluded,î he says.

Paiu says heroin and ecstasy are the most popular drugs in Bucharest, because of the states they induce.

ìAn ecstasy user searches for loud places, he likes to be surrounded by friends. A heroin user is alone when he gets high. Although he's with his group of friends, he gets away in his own world of fantasies,î the pschycologist says.

The most significant drug seizures are those of heroin and amphetamines, says Victor Moga, commander-in-chief of the Department against Drugs and Organised Crime in Bucharest. He says the most common areas for drug dealing are Ferentari, Baicului, Dristor, Vitan, Militari and Drumul Taberei. Dealers sell drugs in their own apartments, in discos, bars and on street corners, Moga says.

Marian says he sold marijuana and ecstasy for a while. His clients were his friends and their friends. He doesn't go to campuses because he considers them to be dangerous for dealers and because students are afraid to buy or don't have enough money. He started dealing to get some extra money, not to harm anyone. ìWho doesn't want it, doesn't get it. I don't force anybody,î he says.

More than 25 per cent of Bucharest students are using drugs, says a recent study made by an Aliat. At the moment, more than 4 per cent of people between 14 and 25 years old have used heroin. The most common age at which people start using drugs is 18, the study says.

Ruxandra Gubernat is a final year student of journalism.