HARD DRUGS IN IRAN
Abuse of meth skyrocketing in country with lethal penalties.
Officials say methamphetamine production and abuse of hard drugs are skyrocketing in Iran despite potentially lethal penalties for users.
The increase is partly because of the country’s status as the gateway for the region’s top drug exporter, Afghanistan — and because Iranian dealers are profiting so handsomely from sales to overstressed students and exhausted workers.
Ghazal Tolouian, a psychologist who treats dozens of meth addicts at a therapy camp in a mountain village northwest of Tehran, says most of her clients fall into two categories: students “who want to pass university entrance exams successfully;” and “people who have to work a second and third shift to make ends meet and earn more money.”
Anti-narcotics and medical officials say more than 2.2 million of Iran’s 80 million citizens are addicted to illegal drugs, including 1.3 million in registered treatment programs. The numbers are rising, even though use of the death penalty against convicted smugglers has increased, too, and now ac- counts for more than nine of every 10 executions.
Parviz Afshar, an anti-narcotics official, said for every lab detected, two more might spring up, often involving small-scale “cooks” operating in homes where meth production is hard to detect. Police destroyed at least 416 meth labs in the year ended March 2014, up from 350 in the yearearlier period.
Iran’s Health Ministry was slow to finance rehabilitation clinics nationwide, but a growing network of private camps has sprung up that partly receive state financing, some of them run by former or recovering addicts.
“When I set up this shelter, authorities didn’t support me. But after several years of hard work, they were convinced that it’s better to provide care and shelter to addicts,” said Majid Mirzaei, manager of a Tehran shelter for drug addicts and a former addict. His facility provides free food, syringes, condoms, medical care and a place to sleep to addicts in a crowded neighbourhood in south Tehran.
“Drug addiction is a fact. It can’t be eliminated, but you can manage it correctly,” Mr. Mirzaei said as he changed a bandage on an addict’s wound.
Officials say Iran’s taste for illegal narcotics is certain to expand into greater abuse of heroin, simply because next door is Afghanistan, source of 75% of the world supply.
Abbas Deilamzadeh, whose Rebirth Society organization runs dozens of rehabilitation centres, predicts more people experimenting with meth soon will be using heroin, simply because Iran is the main route for Afghan heroin exports.
The United Nations drug agency estimated the total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2014 at 224,000 hectares, up 17% from 2013 and producing 6,400 tonnes of opium. Most is grown in the often-lawless Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south.
Those at the clinics tell tales of their profoundly misguided notions about taking meth, specifically it would help them stay awake and not become addictive.
“I used to work on board a train and had to stay up every night until morning,” said Javad, a meth addict.
He used meth for six years in hopes of earning more money by working longer, but last year, he collapsed midway through work and was fired. For the past four months, he’s been getting help at a Tehran clinic.
Javad says he had no idea how bad his life would become as an addict. “At first,” he said, “it was a lot of fun to use.”
Iran has also stepped up a public awareness campaign to prevent and slow down the dangerous trend.
“Increasing public awareness about the dangers of illicit drugs is the best remedy,” said Homayoun Hashemi, head of the country’s State Welfare Organization.