Consumption of 'Homemade Alcohol' in Sirjan Sends Dozens to Hospital

The consumption of 'homemade alcoholic beverages' in Sirjan County, Kerman Province, has resulted in the death of four individuals and sent dozens to the hospital, with three of them reported in critical condition. According to ILNA news agency, 92 people have been poisoned due to the consumption of 'homemade' alcoholic drinks, four of whom have died. These individuals sought medical attention from the evening of Thursday, July 20, until the evening of Sunday, July 23. In this context, ISNA news agency also reported that 30 of the poisoned individuals are undergoing 'dialysis' and 48 are hospitalized, with three in 'critical' condition. Yadollah Mohammadi, the head of the Kerman judiciary, announced that this case will be handled out of turn. According to Mr. Mohammadi, investigations by the police revealed that a truck driver had procured two 20-liter containers of 'homemade' alcohol from Isfahan and distributed it in Sirjan. The consumption of substandard and smuggled alcoholic beverages has repeatedly led to deaths or loss of sight among consumers in various Iranian cities. For instance, in 2013, over 350 people in several cities in Kerman Province, including Rafsanjan, were poisoned due to drinking counterfeit alcoholic beverages, resulting in seven deaths. Last year, a medical examiner stated at a conference on 'Alcohol Abuse and Addiction' that based on cases sent to the organization, between 2010 and 2014, the annual death toll from alcohol consumption was 145, 93, 136, 135, and 81, respectively. Mohammad Reza Ghadirzadeh also mentioned that 'the total financial turnover and trade of alcoholic beverages in the country is 658 billion tomans, and there are 23 alcohol production factories in the country.' There are no precise statistics on the exact amount of alcohol consumption in Iran, and various officials have reported differing figures. For example, Ali Akbar Sayyari, Deputy Minister of Health, reported an annual consumption of 420 million liters of alcohol in the country, while some reports indicate an annual consumption of about 60 million liters of alcoholic beverages in Iran. In this context, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, announced last year that nearly 300,000 bottles of foreign alcohol and about 200,000 liters of domestically produced alcohol were discovered in Tehran within ten months. Qasem Khorshidi, spokesperson for the Anti-Smuggling Headquarters, also stated last year that 1,427,000 cans or bottles of alcoholic beverages were discovered in one year. The punishment for consuming alcoholic beverages in Iran is 80 lashes, and after two executions of this punishment, repeated consumption can lead to execution. In this context, six alcohol production workshops were shut down, and 10 people were arrested in Kerman. The annual consumption of '60 million liters of alcoholic beverages' in Iran has been reported. In the past seven months, 53 people have died due to 'alcohol abuse' in Iran. There has been an increase in the moral police's crackdown on 'satellite dishes and alcoholic beverages.' A member of parliament reported the consumption of 200 million liters of alcoholic beverages in Iran. The number of alcohol poisoning cases in Rafsanjan has reached 359.