According to CNN Report: Iran Has 50,000 Addicted Students

Sara.Kh. CNN News Agency: Sometimes statistics reveal reality, but sometimes they are presented to escape from it. On Thursday, the 13th of Aban, the director general of the office for prevention of social harms in the Ministry of Education claimed that for the first time he is reporting the existence of 3,600 drug users among the country’s students. Some domestic media also headlined “Statistics of addicted students presented for the first time.”

Unaware that according to documented statistics, the number of addicted students in our country has reached more than 50,000 people. Furthermore, evidence and documents indicate that officials of the country’s anti-narcotics headquarters have been warning for more than 15 years about the prevalence of addiction and its unprecedented growth among students and have been releasing statistics. Statistics that differ from what the director general of the office for prevention of social harms in the Ministry of Education has presented.

It was in 2008 when Mohammad Reza Jahani, the then deputy secretary general of the anti-narcotics headquarters, reported the existence of 30,000 addicted students in the country.

Now, after seven years have passed from that date, officials of our country’s Ministry of Education claim that for the first time they are informing the public of statistics on addicted students. And that too with a figure equivalent to one-tenth of the previous one.

To investigate this matter, we turn to statistics that have been announced by other government officials for more than 15 years.

Statistics from the anti-narcotics headquarters indicate that in 2001, half a percent of students aged 15 to 18 had experienced drug use at least once. In the next decade, this figure doubled and reached one percent.

Another survey in 2011 indicated that more than 13 percent of the country’s addicts are of school age. Some of them were students and some had dropped out of school.

The epidemiology survey of drug use was also conducted in 2011 and confirmed these statistics.

Alirez Jazini, deputy secretary of the country’s anti-narcotics headquarters, also warned in September 2014 that parents and education officials should be aware of the prevalence of psychotropic drugs among students.

He stated that according to the epidemiology conducted in 2013, one percent of students use drugs, of which four-tenths of a percent are crystal methamphetamine users.

This official announced two years ago that more than 60 percent of addicted university students had their first experience with drug use during their school years.

And 60 percent of students have also been encouraged to use drugs by their friends and peers.

According to him, in 2014 the average age of starting drug use in the country was 20 years old.

According to IRIB News Agency, General Zahedian, head of the anti-narcotics police force, also announced in October of this year that easy access to drugs is one of the factors in the spread of addiction in the country. For example, in Tehran, people can obtain their desired drugs within five to ten minutes.

According to the latest statistics, more than five million students in the first and second years of secondary school are studying.

Based on the statistics of the anti-narcotics headquarters, we must accept this bitter reality that now the number of addicted students in the country has reached more than 50,000 people.

Officials’ Cover-Up Leads to Destruction

Ibrahim Samani, a child and adolescent counselor, in an interview with CNN emphasizes that the growth of social harms in Iran depends on the participation and cooperation of institutions that have worked in parallel until now and have achieved no results.

In the view of this fellow citizen, who is the father of two adolescents aged eleven and fifteen, the continuation of officials’ cover-ups leads to the expansion of harms and families losing confidence in the government system.

Officials Have Not Learned Piety

Ibrahim considers ignoring what is clearly visible to the people in society as an insult to the nation and country and continues: “Is piety anything other than raising our children like sacred trusts so they can be virtuous servants in society? Why do education officials, after decades have passed, still believe that reading prayers, the Quran, and visiting Ashura shrines alone is sufficient to protect students from various harms?”

He, criticizing the one-sided approach of the Ministry of Education in controlling social harms and especially drug addiction, emphasizes that untying this difficult knot depends on the participation of different institutions and their cooperation.

Ibrahim continues: “Of course, the neglect of government officials regarding the fate of students is to such an extent that they don’t even prioritize employing specialized counselors in public schools and say we don’t have a budget. Private schools are a different matter.”

In the current conditions, the country’s officials should remember that people are well aware of the truth. Families involved and concerned can judge their performance better than any official. In other words, the people will be the fairest judge regarding whether statistics of addicted children and adolescents are decreasing or increasing. Because they face this problem daily and desperately grasp any lifeline to protect their beloved children.

But truly, why should we hear such a false claim from our country’s education officials? Is someone or some people trying to cover up shortcomings this way? Or do they think that by concealing the truth they can restore health to society and be the guardian of future generations of our land?

The destructive scourge of addiction, especially when it has taken hold of children and adolescents, is not a matter to be taken lightly, and negligence toward it will seal the destruction of successive generations in the shortest imaginable time.

Therefore, it is right that officials and those responsible for affairs, especially in the field of education, with realism and transparency of information to the people, take action to prevent the further spread of this problem. There is no doubt that with this approach, the cooperation and alignment of people and officials will have the best feedback.