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Sun, Aug 07, 2011 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Iran ranks second in world for drug consumption

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported last week that Iran ranks second in the world for drug consumption (after Afghanistan). According to the organization’s assessment, the number of drug addicts in Iran has reached 1.2 million, with the percentage of drug addicts in the group aged 15-64 being 2.26 (Aftab, July 31).

At the same time, a member of the scientific committee of Allameh Tabataba’i University reported that the age of drug addicts in Iran has dropped to 13. Seyyed Reza Naqib al-Sadat noted that there are now two million drug users in Iran, most of them under 19. Speaking at a conference in Tehran, the researcher warned about the severe social implications of the phenomenon, saying that the rate of drug use might be reduced by reinforcing religious values and beliefs. He also reported that, as drug use is on the rise, there has also been an increase in alcoholism, prostitution, and homosexuality in Iran in recent years, and that modern media is a contributing factor (ISNA, July 28).

Meanwhile, health minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi said last week that Iran is the world pioneer in treatment of drug addicts, and that no country is as experienced as Iran with regard to this issue. She noted that Iran made a change in its view of drug addiction and addicts, and now treats addicts as people who suffer from disease and need to be treated with respect (Fars, July 31).

Following the release of the UN report on drug consumption in Iran, the conservative website Alef strongly criticized the international organization, accusing it of non-cooperation with Iran in its fight on drug smugglers.

An editorial released by the website said that the figures that place Iran second in the world for drug consumption make no sense, given the fact that drug consumption is legally banned in Iran, while it remains legal in many world countries.

The website noted that Iran had sacrificed 5,000 of its security personnel in the fight on drug smugglers, and that Iranian leaders are committed to combating the phenomenon. The internal security forces, the Revolutionary Guards, and the other security bodies operate in the healtrand of Iran to fight the drug smuggling convoys.

The website attacked the UN for not giving Iran credit for its efforts in the war on drugs, aimed to prevent drug smuggling to Europe. In addition, the UN provided Iran with no assistance or cooperation on this matter, and it has therefore no right to publish data on drug consumption in Iran. The publication of the data, the website said, is part of the “soft war” waged against Iran by the West.

Also according to Alef, the UN never admitted that drug production in Afghanistan significantly increased since the country’s occupation by Western forces. Substances used in the drug industry are smuggled from Europe to Afghanistan, and the drug smuggling convoys use Western-provided telecommunications technology. Western countries did not provide Iran with information on the technology needed to fight drug smuggling, or intelligence on convoys involved in drug smuggling that cross into Iran from Afghanistan (Alef, August 1).

Iran’s geographic location and long border with Afghanistan, the largest opium producer in the world, turned it into a major transit country for drug smuggling to Europe. In recent years Iran makes great efforts to fight drug smugglers.