Minister: Iranian drug addicts decreasing
Iran’s interior minister said the country’s intensive fight against narcotics is gradually paying off, as the number of Iranian drug addicts has decreased about one million in recent years.
Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the number of Iranians drug addicts has decreased from 3.7 million under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to 2.8 million now.
According to a report by Fars News Agency, efforts by the government and nongovernmental organizations have also led many addicts to stop using highly dangerous drugs and return to using traditional substances such as opium, Rahmani Fazli said. However, the minister said the significant growth of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, which is currently estimated to produce over 10,000 tons of opium per year, is a big threat to the country and greater efforts are needed to fight addiction in Iran, IFP reported.
The minister said non-governmental organization could play a bigger role in curbing drug addiction in the country.
Due to its geographical location, which is next to Afghanistan, the world’s biggest producer of opium, Iran has been turned by smugglers into a major conduit for narcotics trade and trafficking to Europe and beyond.
Seizing around 500 tons of drugs annually from dealers on eastern borders, Iran plays an important part in efforts to slow the growth of drug addiction rate worldwide. Thousands of Iranian police officers have lost their lives fighting dealers over the past decades.