An anti-drugs art exhibition displaying wax figures of well-known drug addicts, opened in the lower house of the Russian parliament (State Duma) on Wednesday.
"Around 2.5 million Russian drug addicts are sick people who need medical help," Russia's drug control chief Viktor Ivanov said at the opening ceremony.
He said that every drug addict is responsible for getting 10 to 15 other people into drugs during his lifetime.
The Reflection of Addiction exhibition contains wax figures of celebrities whose lives were severely affected by drug use, including Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Queen Lead Singer Freddie Mercury and Mark Chapman, who killed John Lennon in 1980.
Damaged organs, preserved in formaldehyde, taken from the dead bodies of former drug addicts are also on display at the exhibition.
Ivanov said such exhibitions have been used in many countries to attract people's attention to the problem of drug abuse.
