Victims of Drug Abuse in Iran: A Statistical Overview

Numbers sometimes carry astonishing realities. Radio Farda looks at the statistics that have recently been circulating regarding drug abuse in Iran: Approximately 40,000 people have died from drug use over the past 10 years. On December 21, the Mehr news agency reported that forensic statistics show that from 2004 to 2013 (10 years), around 39,406 people lost their lives due to substance abuse, which means an average of 10 deaths per day. 60% of addicts in the country are employed. On December 17, IRNA reported that Kourosh Parand, Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, stated that 60% of the country's addicts are employed individuals. Parand added that "there are about 1.35 million addicts in the country, and unfortunately, drug use has shifted towards synthetic drugs." A request by 70 representatives to abolish the death penalty for drug traffickers was made on December 17, with Mirhadi Qara Seyed Roumyani, a member of the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announcing that over 70 representatives signed a proposal to remove the death penalty from the anti-drug law. The main cause of 60% of domestic violence cases is addiction, according to Habibollah Masoudi Farid, Deputy for Social Affairs at the Welfare Organization, who stated that currently, 60% of domestic violence and 30% of child abuse cases stem from addiction. He noted that severe addiction is the primary cause in over 90% of severe domestic and child abuse cases. 10% of drug users in Iran are women. On December 8, Alireza Jazini, Deputy Secretary-General of the Anti-Drug Headquarters, announced that women constitute 10% of drug users in Iran. 8,000 people are covered by addiction health insurance. On December 4, Mohammad Javad Kabir, CEO of the Iran Health Insurance Organization, reported that "over 8,000 people are covered by addiction health insurance." There are over 1,000 licensed addiction treatment centers in Iran, according to Provez Afshar, Deputy for Demand Reduction and Development of Public Participation at the Anti-Drug Headquarters, who reported this on November 30. The reason for the imprisonment of 75% of prisoners is drug-related. On November 30, Asghar Jahangir, Deputy of the Judiciary and Head of the Prisons Organization, stated that drugs are the reason for 75% of prisoners in Iranian jails. 3.5 million arrests related to drugs have occurred over the past 11 years. On November 25, Alireza Jazini announced that 3.5 million people have been arrested in connection with drug issues in Iran over the past 11 years. Jazini added that "the price of one kilogram of crystal meth was 20 million tomans, which has now reached 60 to 80 million tomans." 4,000 killed and 12,000 injured in the fight against drugs. On November 18, Hossein Zolfaqari, Deputy for Security and Police at the Ministry of Interior, announced that "we have dismantled 1,200 drug trafficking gangs, over 350,000 traffickers have been identified, and in this struggle, we have sacrificed 4,000 martyrs and 12,000 injured for the fight against drugs." A 210% increase in the wholesale price of crystal meth. On November 10, Provez Afshar, spokesperson for the Anti-Drug Headquarters, announced the latest statistics regarding drug issues. He stated that the retail price of crystal meth has increased by 140% and its wholesale price by 210%, rising from 18.9 million tomans per kilogram to 58.7 million tomans. The price of heroin has also increased by 2% in retail and 52% in wholesale, while there has been a 34% decrease in the price of opium. Afshar added that in the first seven months of this year, 366,577 kilograms of various drugs have been discovered, with 77% being opium, 3% crystal meth, 2.5% heroin, and 15% hashish. 88% of these discoveries were made by the police, 10% by the Ministry of Intelligence, 2% by the Basij, and part of it was discovered jointly by customs and the prison organization. He added that 1,510 operations for drug discoveries were carried out in the first seven months of this year in Iran, showing an 18% increase compared to the same period last year. According to him, the number of dismantled drug trafficking groups in 2012 was 1,767, and based on statistics, the number of drug prisoners in the first half of 2015 was 59,181. 1,470 deaths due to substance abuse in six months. On November 9, the country's forensic organization announced that in the first six months of this year, 1,470 people lost their lives due to substance abuse, of which 1,310 were men and 160 were women. During this period, Tehran, with 394, Khorasan Razavi with 169, and Isfahan with 108 had the highest number of addiction fatalities, while West Azerbaijan with 4, Bushehr with 6, and Markazi and Yazd with 9 each had the lowest statistics. 130,000 addicted students in Iran. On October 20, Shabestan news agency reported that statistics from the Anti-Drug Headquarters show that one out of every 100 students is addicted, meaning 130,000 out of 13 million students are addicted. However, the Ministry of Education does not accept these statistics. Annually, 70,000 newborns are born to addicted mothers. On October 26, Alireza Nourouzi, head of the Department of Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse at the Ministry of Health, mentioned that 70,000 newborns are born annually to addicted mothers, stating that "these newborns need to be hospitalized to detox and alleviate withdrawal symptoms." Only 20-30% of imported drugs into Iran are identified annually. On October 8, Provez Afshar stated that "only 20 to 30% of the drugs entering the country are identified annually, and the rest are either consumed in our country or cross our borders and reach Europe." In this context, the main concern of the Welfare Organization is the increase in synthetic drugs and addicted women. The collection of addicted women "street dwellers" in a neighborhood of Tehran, the proposal to replace life imprisonment with the death penalty for drug traffickers, and the Prisons Organization stating that the average age of criminals has decreased from 36 to 30 years. The cultivation of marijuana at home in Kerman has increased. 1,191 deaths in five months due to drug use. Changes in the battlefield of "proxy forces"; the war against the people in the streets of Iran. The first paragraph; the responsibility of the opposition and the possibility of radicalizing Iranian society. The death of the last representative of Mossad in Tehran amid the Iran crisis.