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​Football Fans Can Bring Marijuana, Cocaine And Heroin To World Cup In Russia

​Football Fans Can Bring Marijuana, Cocaine And Heroin To World Cup In Russia

Russian officials have given the rest of the world some slightly surprising news.

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

All eyes are on Russia this year, as it sets itself up to host this summer's Football World Cup in 11 of its cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi.

And while players are honing their skills before the sporting showpiece and local bars are dreaming up their themed cocktails, Russian officials are busy giving the rest of the world some slightly surprising news.

That's right, it turns out football fans are allowed to bring marijuana, cocaine and heroin to the World Cup, according to The Moscow Times.

Obviously, it's not quite as straightforward as it initially sounds, as the drugs will need supporting medical documents - written in the Russian language - to go alongside them.

Russia's 2018 World Cup Organizing Committee told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper that law enforcement officers will be on duty to verify the authenticity of drug prescriptions.

PA

"Security officers will monitor the enforcement of rules for carrying prescription drugs to stadium grounds at checkpoints," the committee said.

The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union grants travellers the right to bring in otherwise-banned substances to the country, but only if there is the correct documentation. According to to the regulations, the list of permitted drugs includes cocaine, cannabis and heroin.

"According to FIFA rules, both Russians and foreigners can take up to seven items of medicines to the stadium, but not more than one package of each, unless another volume is prescribed by the prescription," Izvestia says.

This comes after some other interesting news from Russian authorities, who originally said that England supporters wouldn't be able to buy booze at stadiums that were hosting matches in the tournament. They also explained that the ban would extend to all fan zones where fans without match tickets could gather to watch the match - which naturally didn't go down too well.

PA

But they recently then got the go-ahead from Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who confirmed that fans will be able to get a beer just fine at official World Cup events.

"This will be not only at stadiums but also in fan zones," said Deputy Prime Minister Mutko.

And, in even better news, the official beers of the World Cup- which will be Budweiser and the Russian beer Klinskoye - will be cheap as hell. For one half a litre bottle of beer it will cost punters about 72p, whereas a pint in many places is a rip-off at about 87p.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football, FIFA, Cocaine, World Cup, Russia