2.5M ADDICTS IN IRAN: OFFICIAL

TEHRAN -- "There are 2.5 million addicts in the country," an advisor of
secretary of Drug Control Headquarters (DCH) Mohammad Morad-Qoli said here
on Friday.

Morad-Qoli said addiction has become a major problem in the country, and
called for an all-out campaign against the use of illicit drugs by all the
government officials and the people all over the country.

The advisor elaborated that drug traffickers have put the policy of
polluting the countries on their agenda, and the Islamic Republic is no
exception.

Iran straddles major international transit routes of drugs from Afghanistan
and Pakistan, better known as the "golden crescent" for lucrative markets
in Europe, Persian Gulf and Central Asia.

The campaign has won plaudits from international community, but the Islamic
Republic of Iran has regularly complained it needed more than conciliatory
messages in its single-handed fight.

Iran has made efforts to check the rage, but the country's borders with
Afghanistan and Pakistan -- stretching to more than 1200 kilometers mostly
along deserts and mountainous regions -- have proved impenetrable.
Morad-Qoli also said that an all-out plan for campaigning against drugs and
drug abuses has been submitted to President Khatami, "which is on its
closing stages of compilation."

"Over 96% of the DCH's approvals have focused on confronting drug
traffickers and abusers, and only four percent of them were about ways to
treat and prevent such a social destructive disaster," he said adding that
to get useful results in campaigning against drugs, all efforts should be
made to reduce the rate of drug demands.