Sharp Increase in Drug-Related Deaths, Drowning, and Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Iran

Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization has reported a sharp increase in deaths from drug abuse, drowning, and carbon monoxide poisoning in the country during the past solar year, but says traffic accident fatalities have declined slightly.

According to the official Legal Medicine website, last year 4,472 people died from drug abuse, stimulants, narcotic medications, and polysubstance use in the country. This figure represents a 21.8 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year.

Based on the statistics of this official institution, 86 percent of drug abuse fatalities were men and 14 percent were women.

One quarter of drug abuse deaths occurred in Tehran, while Fars Province with 401 deaths and Razavi Khorasan with 323 deaths had the highest number of victims.

Among those who died from addiction, 46.8 percent were single and 5.1 percent of victims were under 18 years old.

The Legal Medicine Organization also stated that last year 784 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the country, a figure that represents a 4.7 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Last year, Tehran Province with 136 deaths, Fars with 69, and Isfahan with 62 had the highest number of carbon monoxide poisoning fatalities.

Also, last year 1,275 people died from drowning, representing approximately a 36 percent increase compared to 2018.

Reduction in Traffic Deaths and Conflict-Related Cases

Based on Legal Medicine statistics, last year 16,947 people were killed in traffic accidents, representing approximately a 1.4 percent decrease compared to 2018.

Approximately 66 percent of accident deaths occurred on highways and one quarter were related to accidents on urban roads.

According to this report, last year Fars Province with 1,269 deaths, Tehran with 1,241 deaths, and Razavi Khorasan with 1,132 deaths had the highest number of traffic accident fatalities.

Legal Medicine statistics also show that last year citizens’ visits to this organization due to conflict exceeded 570,000 cases. This figure was approximately 580,000 cases in 2018.

Last year, 2,523 people also died from electrocution and burns.

Source: Radio Farda