Drug Use In Iran Hits New High

AFP, Khaleej Times Online:

Some four million Iranians, or nearly six percent of the total population, can be classed as drug users, a government newspaper reported on Saturday. Quoting “official surveys”, the Iran newspaper said that out of the total number of narcotics users, some 2.5 million people were actual addicts. The report gave no further details. READ MORE

Iran sits on a major trafficking route for heroin, opium, morphine and cannabis from Afghanistan, and in the past decade has experienced an explosion of narcotics use. In the past, official and unofficial estimates have put the number of drug users at around two million.

The latest report gave no details on the new statistics, including the number of estimated intravenous drug users. Previous figures have put drug injectors at around a quarter of a million people.