IRAN, U.N. SIGN ACCORD ON FIGHTING DRUGS

TEHRAN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Iran and the United Nations have signed an
accord on fighting drug smuggling, the official Iranian news agency
IRNA reported on Tuesday.

It said that under the accord -- signed between Iran and the U.N.
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in Tehran -- the United
Nations will set up an office in Tehran for the first time for the
drug campaign programme.

Iran is a key transit route for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan and
Pakistan to Europe and Gulf Arab states.

Iranian officials say there are half a million addicts in the country
of more than 60 million people. Local media have put the number at up
to one million.

The United States has dropped Iran from its list of countries seen to
be major drug producers or transit nations.

U.N. officials say Iranian fortifications on the border with Pakistan
have been effective in preventing the flow of drugs from that country.
The U.N. also gives Iran high marks for its measures to try to seal
the border with Afghanistan.