The Islamic Republic's policies in the fight against drugs have failed; at least 5 percent of the Iranian population is addicted

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

According to Iranian media reports, Eskandar Momeni, Secretary General of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, said on Tuesday, May 29, that 5 percent of Iran's population, or 2.8 million people, are addicts, and that "nearly 4,000 people die annually from drug use or abuse in that country."

This is while the official statistics announced by Iranian government officials cannot be verified by independent experts in any way and cannot be considered valid or final.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently used the death penalty to combat drug trafficking over the past decades and since coming to power, and has emphasized the success of its efforts in this area, many experts, citing the official statistics of over five percent of addicts in Iran, believe that the Iranian regime's efforts to prevent drug use have been ineffective.

Source: Voice of America