Failure of Islamic Republic’s Policies in Fighting Drugs; At Least 5% of Iran’s Population is Addicted

An Iranian official has reported that 5% of the country’s population is addicted to drugs.

According to reports from Iranian media outlets, Eskander Momeni, Secretary-General of Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, said on Tuesday, April 29, that 5% of Iran’s population, meaning 2 million and 800 thousand people, are addicted, and stated that in that country “nearly 4 thousand people die annually due to drug use or misuse.”

This comes at a time when official statistics released by Iranian government officials are in no way verifiable by independent experts and cannot be considered valid and final.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently used the death penalty policy to combat drug trafficking over the past decades since coming to power, and has emphasized the success of its measures in this field, many experts, citing these same official statistics showing addiction rates above 5% in Iran, believe that the Iranian regime’s efforts in preventing drug consumption have been unsuccessful.

Source: Voice of America