Students and Women at Risk of Addiction

A Tehran drug control official reported that 10 people die daily from substance abuse and added that addiction causes an annual economic loss of 10 trillion tomans to the country. According to ILNA, Mohammad Reza Azarnia, the secretary of the Coordination Council of the Drug Control Headquarters in Tehran, stated in a press conference on Thursday, June 17, that part of the essential raw materials for producing methamphetamine is sourced from Nasr Khosrow commercial units, which, when combined, form the drug. He mentioned that a program has been planned to organize this street. This official also reported the identification of 12 meth labs in Tehran and described the province as the ninth highest in addiction prevalence in the country. Azarnia also discussed the addiction rate in schools, stating that the rate is 1.2%, and they are currently identifying students involved in this issue to provide treatment through a committee formed with the presence of universities, education, and welfare organizations. He also announced the establishment of a specific hospital for treating this group of students. The secretary then addressed drug traffickers, noting that the wealthiest drug trafficker arrested so far had 164 kg of meth and owned a complex in the north of the country. He stated that in the last two months, 12 billion tomans from the account of a drug trafficker, who was sentenced to death, had been deposited into the government treasury. Currently, 100 confiscated properties and about 630 seized vehicles are under the control of the Coordination Council for Drug Control in Tehran, with 400 confiscated vehicles, mostly Porsches and Maseratis, located in one of the warehouses. This official also reported that the headquarters is selling confiscated properties of traffickers, with 13 residential units sealed, 63 seized vehicles, and 50 confiscated vehicles sold, and 60 cases are under identification where the assets of drug offenders are being officially and physically identified from various sources. He mentioned the establishment of 44 Baharan centers for rehabilitating recovered addicts, each with a capacity of 150 people, with 22 centers currently active and over 2,000 individuals present in these centers. The statements from this drug control official come as Abdul Reza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, announced ten days ago in a press conference that 600,000 people are imprisoned annually in Iran, with 60% of them related to drug offenses. The Minister of Interior also mentioned about a month ago that Ayatollah Khamenei had requested 'extraordinary action' to reduce addiction, considering it a priority for the ministry. He had previously asked the country's mourners to assist in the fight against drugs in a meeting on January 25, 2014. Meanwhile, Parviz Afshar, an official from the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters, announced on Tuesday, May 17, that the share of women among all addicts has doubled from 2001 to 2011, describing it as a serious warning. According to Fars News Agency, Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Vice President for Women's Affairs, stated last February that women constitute 10% of addicts.