Number of Drug Addicts in Iran: One Million and 325 Thousand

On Thursday, December 6, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters of Iran announced that the number of drug addicts in Iran is one million and 325 thousand, and reported the allocation of a 30 billion Toman budget for the insurance of addicts by the government. According to ISNA, Alireza Jazini stated that the age of drug addiction in Iran has reached 15 years, adding that '10 percent of addicts are women.' This official also discussed the status of drug use among Iranian students, noting that 2.6 percent of students from the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and 1.3 percent from the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education consume drugs. In August of this year, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, reported to the parliament that '1.6 percent of students at universities under the Ministry of Health and 2.6 percent of students at universities under the Ministry of Science are involved in addiction.' However, Hamid Sarami, the Director General of the Research and Education Office of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, stated in mid-July that more than six percent of students at public universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education consume drugs. Meanwhile, according to ISNA, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters also mentioned that one percent of students are drug addicts, which was previously reported as half a percent. Earlier, the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami reported in October of this year that 'the alarm bell for the use of industrial drugs by students has sounded,' stating that 'one percent of students have experience with various drugs, and four-tenths of a percent are addicted to crystal meth.' According to this newspaper, citing the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, 'in 2007, the rate of industrial drug use was three percent, and it has now increased to 26 percent, and this issue is on the rise because students have easy access to these substances.' Meanwhile, Ataollah Soltani Sabour, the head of the Higher Education Committee of the Parliament, mentioned in an interview with the House of the Nation news agency that the age of drug use among students has decreased to '8 to 9 years.' According to ISNA, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters announced that in the first eight months of this year, a total of 320 thousand tons of drugs, equivalent to 1300 kilograms, have been discovered and seized, with most of these substances being opium, heroin, and crystal meth. The destruction of 170 crystal meth production workshops, the seizure of four million and 300 drug pills and ampoules, the referral of 52 thousand addicts to treatment centers, and the arrest of 180 thousand drug distributors in the first eight months of this year were other news mentioned by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters. Mr. Jazini also noted that this year, the government has allocated 30 billion Toman for the insurance of addicts in the budget of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare.