The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili met with the representative of the Parliamentarian majority Dimitri Lortkipanidze. Mikheil Saakashvili appreciated his initiative on public servants' drug-test and noted that testing these people by testing a strand of hair is the most modern method. The Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia Aleksandre Kvitashvili attended the meeting as well.

"It is a right initiative to test every public servant starting with high ranking officials, by modern technology which is not painful, humiliating and excludes mistakes" stated the President.

As he said testing by strand of hair makes it possible to determine whether this person is a drug addict even in the case when he has not used drugs for several months running. As Mikheil Saakashvili noted public service must absolutely be cleaned from drugs, he added that he will be the first to be tested and called upon the MPs to do the same.

The President of Georgia pointed out that if the representatives of business express their desire to be tested by this method, the government will cover the costs.

The President said that more than six thousand drug dealers were arrested and this is quite a big number, he noted that the struggle by repressive methods against drug addiction cannot be the way out. This must be socially unacceptable.

Mikheil Saakashvili ordered the Minister of Health to work in the direction of implementing a new technology for drug test by a hair-strand and to find out to use all the resources for it.

Any initiative like this that will be brought by various political groups must be attentively listened to by the government and in case of its usefulness for the country must be shared", stated the President of Georgia.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia