One of the socioeconomic challenges facing Iran today is extensive drug addiction, especially among the youth. Having Afghanistan — the world’s largest producer of opium — as a neighbor has turned Iran into a transit route for drug smuggling and consumption. Despite extensive efforts by the government to clamp down on drug trafficking and contain drug consumption, the issue continues to pose a major challenge to Iranian society on many levels.

The latest statistics in this field were presented during a conference in Ahwaz by the director-general of the office for research and training affiliated with the Iran Drug Control Program, Hamid Serami. In an unusually transparent presentation, Serami outlined the following statistics: Some 1.325 million registered drug addicts are in Iran, excluding those who consume drugs occasionally or those who have opted not to register with any of the existing programs. Of these addicts, 58% are younger than 34, 9% are women and 22% have higher education. As a result, some 10 million Iranians (direct relatives of the addicts) have to struggle with the consequences of drug addiction. Serami also outlined that drug addiction has killed an average of seven people per day over the past two decades and is the second leading cause of death in the country after road and traffic accidents.

Unofficial estimates put the number of hard-core addicts higher (up to 4 million), but the total number will always be a guess in a society like Iran. However, it is significant that state officials have started discussing the drug-addiction trends in society.

Another official, Alireza Akbarshahi, director-general of the office in charge of containing the supply of drugs, recently reported that in the first seven months of the current Iranian year, some 352 tons of heroin, opium, hashish and morphine have been confiscated by the police forces. He also announced that a total of 135,322 large and small drug traffickers had been arrested, a decline compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the police had arrested more than 26,000 drug addicts — a 15% rise compared to the same period last year.