Institutions need to stop talking and start acting against drug dealing to children, MP Marin Tihomirov said, reading out a statement from his party, We Continue the Change, in parliament.
Neither the police nor the health system can keep up, the party says. Tihomirov said Bulgaria recorded 1,626 acute drug poisonings in 2025. Of these, 227 involved children under 18 — 95 of them under 15, and 132 aged 16 to 18. That works out to more than four cases a day on average.
The latest figures from specialist registers show 125 drug-related deaths, eight of them people under 20. "In 58 of the confirmed cases, fentanyl was found in the blood and urine," Tihomirov said. He called this proof that drugs sold in Bulgaria carry a very high risk of a fatal overdose.
The party wants police and prosecutors to keep a steady presence in high-risk areas. Tihomirov named the Sofia neighborhoods of Hristo Botev, Filipovtsi and Fakulteta, plus others across the country. Officers should be on the ground at all times, he said, tracking down both the organizers and their money, and reporting back on results.
The party also wants to know what labs the interior ministry has to identify new psychoactive substances, and how long testing takes.
The health ministry must open working places for detox, treatment and rehab, including some just for children under 18, with a timeline for expanding them and public money to pay for it, the party says. The statement calls the 16 rehab programs and 428 treatment places Bulgaria had in 2024 "clearly not enough."
The party wants standing mobile teams for prevention, able to step in at schools and in high-risk neighborhoods, run jointly by the education ministry, the interior ministry, local councils and local anti-drug commissions.
On 7 May, the cabinet adopted a national anti-drug strategy for 2026-2030, with an action plan and a budget. Four months on, We Continue the Change wants to know how much money has been paid out, how many new treatment places have opened, how many specialists have been hired, and how much of this has actually reached schools, neighborhoods and families.
"Selling drugs to children is a crime," Tihomirov said. When institutions fail to protect children and fail to shut down dealers, he added, that is a political failure. The statement calls on prime minister Rossen Zhelyazkov to turn President Radev's calls into real action.
The party wants parliament to keep close watch on how the strategy is carried out and make sure it gets funded. If needed, it says, lawmakers should change the law so new psychoactive substances can be identified and banned faster.