Pat Dollard | Young Americans

The Media Line:

[Tehran] Ten years ago, calculating the number of drug users in Iran was pure guesswork. These days it is rather more scientific, and the veil is being drawn aside from a social ill hidden for decades by conservative governments. Today, new statistics are endorsed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In 1999, the UNODC was launched in Iran and together with the Iranian administration started releasing more realistic figures. It is now accepted by both parties that Iran has roughly 1.2 million regular users and around 800,000 periodic users throughout its cities and provinces. Depending on who you are talking to, the numbers still vary. The initial survey started alarm bells ringing in government circles as results suggested an epidemiology within Iran’s borders, with new trends developing across all spectrums of society, and a shift from opiate-based drugs to synthetic ones.

A local NGO, the Center for Human Regeneration, helps people suffering from opium addiction. One of its rehabilitation facilities it has helped 7,000 people so far, and it has six more facilities in Iran. Its founder is a former addict who, during one Ramadan month, eventually kicked his habit after realizing that he could cure himself by lowering his opium intake gradually.

This is a view that former addicts turned counselors share. One of them is Mehrdad, who entered the Center looking for help, and now helps others to clean up. “Treatment at the Center takes Iran’s specific drug problem into account. Cold turkey doesn’t work here. We use opium in our rehab process rather than methadone. People addicted to opium are addicted to 12 alkaloids rather than the one in methadone.” Pressed for further information, Mehrdad explains, “Methadone users still experience pain and even sexual dysfunction, which causes them to relapse. Opium is natural and can be used to battle addiction and pain, all counselors here are former addicts and must pass a test to be able to sit where I am now.”

One of the more controversial aspects of this treatment plan is that it allows addicts to buy their own opium. “We give them scales and tell them how much they can use in a day, the patients keep the drug themselves and we have an agreement with the police whereby they won’t get arrested if they are caught while receiving treatment with us. Each month we tell them to reduce their consumption by 20 percent. The onus is on the addict to take responsibility as we can only help those who want to help themselves.”

The center also offers addicts different ways to express themselves while in therapy. One is through sport and 12 different sports are provided. Soccer, rugby, volleyball, and darts are all on the menu, but the most successful venture is archery. Two former male addicts and one female now represent Iran at international level and may be sent to the Beijing Olympics.

The center also operates a needle exchange. The experience that counselors pass on is invaluable for those in rehab and with a relapse rate around 12%, something is clearly working. It can be compared to a 2004 report by Shiraz University which then showed a relapse rate of anywhere between 60 and 80%, depending on where the addict was treated. One American rehab center suggests a similar figure of 16%.

Mehrdad explains, “Rehab is revolutionary in Iran, ten years ago admitting the problem existed would have got you imprisoned or shot. [The government] listened to outside advice because they were afraid of a spectacular health crisis, we have had army generals and government officials come through our doors.”

Consumption in Iran is not just limited to the poor. Center staff deal with a large cross-section of the community. But what has caused the increase in numbers? Mehrdad pauses before he answers, “At the lower end of society, the problem is poverty driven; at the high end, it’s boredom. Or pleasure seeking.”

The Iranian authorities seize an estimated three to four hundred tons of narcotics every year. This is hardly surprising since Afghanistan shares a 750-mile eastern border with the Islamic Republic and some 93% of the world’s opium is grown in Afghanistan. Iran is caught in the unenviable position of being a key trafficking route to Europe and the Western markets for narcotics consumption. Rumor has it that drug seizures by government drug agencies follow tip offs by organized gangs, who then are allowed to run larger quantities of narcotics through Tehran and into Europe. Although such claims cannot be verified, the country’s present failure to deal with domestic corruption issues allegedly surrounding many government institutions (confirmed by ‘Ali Hashemi, when head of the Drugs Control Headquarters in 2005 — he admitted that a few Iranian officials had been involved in trafficking) may be a sign it is true. Iran supports the international anti-corruption convention, but has yet to ratify the agreement.

As more money is diverted towards intercepting shipments of narcotics, it is no surprise that Iran is the leading country in the world for drugs seizures. This point is not lost on UNODC representative, Roberto Arbitrio, who has been in working in Iran for the past four years. Aribtrio is well versed in the region’s drug problems and praises work being done by the government. “Iran is a country that is already working in the area of drug control and is considered in the region as one of the most effective. Iran has built an excellent protection system along the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan over the main trafficking routes. It is a unique example in the region, so they are doing good work. What we as UNODC do is assist them in developing software capacity. In border control, what’s needed is cross-border cooperation and that is where the U.N. can facilitate in making sure Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan coordinate action.”

With Iran spending more resources on fighting organized crime, why is the drug problem spreading? Arbitrio’s answer involves Afghanistan like much of Iran’s narcotics. “Opium use is common to many cultures in this region as a pain killer and sometimes it is used for recreational purposes. Over the past 15 years, opium production in Afghanistan has become an industrialized industry feeding Western markets. As a result of passing trade, the region became a consumer…Afghanistan now has over 1 million users. In turn, they’ve become a major market producing and consuming narcotics. There is a knock on effect in places like Iran, Pakistan, and other central Asian countries.”

So it is all to do with the scale of production? “Yes, and the business needs of traffickers means they create local markets. Where you have trafficking you also have an increasing problem of organized crime and terrorism. There is now a clear link between trafficking of narcotics and specific manifestations of terrorism.”

One cause for concern for UNODC and the Iranian authorities is the rise in number of people using heroin-based ‘crack’. “It’s different from the crack used in the U.S. and Europe, which is cocaine-based, here it is heroin-based and we are still not entirely sure of its composition. UNODC with some government agencies are conducting a study on the drug. All we know is its impact is completely devastating, we have seen the terrible effects of this substance on people, and it’s becoming more widespread, as is injecting heroin, and that’s across the whole spectrum of society.”

Heroin-based crack is causing much concern among ordinary Iranians. State television recently showed videos of suffering addicts to try to raise awareness.

The government is trying to quell the local markets and its efforts are managed by the Drug Control Headquarters (DCH), whose remit is to develop, coordinate, and implement all local and national drug control policies. The DCH represents several ministries, including health, and controls the interior ministry and anti-narcotics police. The organization is led by a secretary general who is appointed directly by the president and answerable to him. The UNODC deals directly with this body, which it uses to circulate information to the NGOs. Arbitrio is enthusiastic about the diverse nature of the NGOs, “We work with 100 to 150 centers specializing in treatment and prevention and issues like curbing HIV. These problems are widespread in Iran and we are helping to improve the capability that’s already set up and lend our expertise.”

Why are NGOs effective in policy implementation? “They use a lot of different approaches. There is treatment through methadone, which moves users from heroin, and they also give psychological religious counseling.” Arbitrio also praised the religious counseling offered by the Rebirth Foundation. The foundation works in communities developing ways to help addicts cope and recover from drug abuse. It gained official recognition in 2005 when it won the U.N.’s Vienna Civil Society award, an honor bestowed to only one or two NGOs throughout the world each year.
NGOs not only work with members of the public. One or two offer medical support to prisons inmates nationwide, trying to prevent the spread of HIV/ AIDS in the country.

The UNODC representative believes the Iranian authorities are doing all they can to tackle the drug problem and applauds them for inviting missions from the Far East, Pakistan, and countries neighboring the Islamic Republic to demonstrate what is being done to reduce drug abuse and treat addicts. There is still more to be done, says Arbitrio, “We encourage all parties to come together and boost the status of bi-lateral cooperation. I must say the level of assistance provided bi-laterally is limited because the opportunities of cooperation between Iran and the international community are limited… the UN is the main provider of assistance, our current budget is a most $8-9 million over three years. This is quite a limited amount of money for a country with a problem like this. Drug control should be viewed as a non-political area for cooperation, because it’s a destabilizing factor for all of us—for everybody in the international community.”

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