We Continue the Change has called on the government to take real action against drug dealing to children. MP Marin Tihomirov read the party's declaration in parliament.
Bulgaria's cabinet adopted a national strategy to fight drugs for 2026-2030 on May 7, along with an action plan and a budget. Four months on, We Continue the Change wants to know what part of the strategy has actually started. Tihomirov asked how much money has gone out, how many new treatment places have opened, how many specialists have been hired, and what steps have reached schools, neighborhoods and families.
The party wants police and prosecutors working together constantly in the riskiest areas, with a steady presence on the ground, tracking of dealers and money, and regular reports on results. The declaration names Hristo Botev, Filipovtsi and Fakulteta in Sofia, along with other areas across the country, as hotspots.
We Continue the Change also wants the interior ministry to say what labs it has to identify new psychoactive substances and how long tests take. The party wants the health ministry to say how many real places exist for detox, treatment and psychosocial rehab, including places set up specifically for children under 18. The ministry should also say when it will open new places and with what public money.
The declaration calls on the education ministry, the interior ministry, municipalities and local drug commissions to set up standing mobile teams to prevent drug use and step in at schools and in high-risk neighborhoods. It says parliament should track how the strategy is carried out, make sure it gets funding, and change the law if needed so new psychoactive substances can be brought under control faster.
Tihomirov said the latest official figures show the scale of the problem. In 2025, Bulgaria recorded 1,626 cases of acute drug intoxication — more than four a day on average. Of these, 227 involved children under 18, including 95 aged 15 or younger and 132 aged 16 to 18.
Records show 125 drug-related deaths, eight of them among people under 20. Fentanyl turned up in the blood and urine in 58 of the confirmed cases — which Tihomirov said shows Bulgaria's drug market now carries substances with an extremely high risk of deadly overdose.
"Selling drugs to children is a crime," the MP said. We Continue the Change says the problem doesn't stop with police work — treatment is falling behind too. The latest national report shows only 16 psychosocial rehab programs ran in 2024, with 428 places in total. The party calls that nowhere near enough.
When institutions fail to protect children and cut off the supply chains, that becomes a matter of political responsibility, the declaration says. It insists that "president Radev's general calls must turn into concrete action by prime minister Radev."