Russian government officials, having failed their country miserably during last month's tragic terrorist attack on a school in the city of Beslan, are working feverishly to lay blame on all the usual suspects. Having settled comfortably on the number of attackers of Arab origin (two, five, nine or ten, or ten), the government has now turned the spotlight on drugs.

The results of a forensic analysis showed that 31 Islamist militants who seized a school in Beslan last month and killed at least 330 people were drug addicts, a law enforcement official told Russian news agencies.

Blood tests showed high levels of heroin and morphine in most of the militants, who were killed when federal forces and angry parents stormed the school at the end of a three-day hostage drama.

The tests "indicate that they were long-term drug addicts and had been using drugs permanently while preparing for the terrorist attack," Nikolai Shepel, deputy prosecutor general of Russia's southern federal district, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

"Some of the terrorists had levels exceeding a deadly dose, which indicates they had gotten used to the substance, and were using it regularly while preparing for the attack," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Some of the terrorists were also suffering from withdrawal symptoms during the siege, as their supply of hard drugs ran out. The militants refused to give food or water to the children they were holding hostage for a period of nearly three days.

Alexander Torshin, who heads the parliamentary committee investigating the Beslan tragedy, told Interfax that the terrorists were insensitive to pain and fought on even after being shot several times. He said their use of drugs had made them immune to pain.

The test results confirmed reports of witnesses and survivors who said they saw the terrorists, who did not eat anything during the siege, taking substances. Witnesses, however, said the militants were also very alert and capable of performing military tasks.

There's no reason to believe anything the Russian government says about anything, nor is there any real press freedom in the backsliding country. I noticed a couple of red flags fly up in this article immediately. First, the article claims authorities found "high levels of heroin and morphine in most of the militants," but heroin turns into morphine in the body, so it's impossible to discern between the two. Second, tying alleged withdrawl symptoms to a refusal on the part of the terrorists to feed hostages is baffling absent any substantiation. Finally, the characterization of the terrorists as possessing superhuman abilities and remaining "very alert and capable of performing military tasks" while purportedly high on opioid "levels exceeding a deadly dose" is ridiculous. Opiates are known for causing dizziness, immobility, exhaustion, and a state disassociation from the world around you -- superpowers aren't on the list.

So there's no way to tell if these Russian government claims are in fact true. Regardless, drug-using terrorists are not novel, and the idea that drugs had anything to do with their horrific, murderous actions -- as the article clearly implies -- is absurd.

More about the drugs-and-terrorism link, in the Moscow News, is here. If you have a moment, read this chilling list of the victims of the Beslan attack here.