OFFICIAL SAYS CULTURAL APPROACH BEST METHOD OF FIGHTING ILLEGAL DRUGS

ABADAN, Kkuzestan Province - An Iranian official said on Saturday the
cultural approach is the most effective way of dealing with the problem of
the rampant illicit drug abuse in the society.

According to IRNA, Governor General of Abadan Jamal Alami-Nisti said the
cultural method based on the training and promotion of public awareness is
better and more effective than the physical ones since it could bring about
sustainable positive results.

He said the drug problem could not be solved just through legal means while
saying the cultural ways should be undertaken too to effectively tackle the
problem.

He stated that the legal and cultural means are complementary to each other
while adding that there were about 3000 hectares of lands under the
cultivation of opium poppy in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution but
the post-revolution government put a ban on the poppy cultivation later on.

He said there are mafia bands which are trying to replace the natural drugs
by the synthetic drugs as a way to pocket large sums of money.

He called on officials to bring their help to effectively counter the
illicit drug trafficking and abuse. He noted that the imprisonment of the
drug addicts is not an appropriate solution to the drug problem and called
on the experts to try to find effective solutions to the growing problem of
the illicit drug abuse in the country.

He noted that the police, could not curb the drug problem all alone while
calling upon the people to actively get involved in the attempts to
campaign the illicit drugs.

However, he paid tribute to more than 3100 martyrs of the Iranian anti-drug
units who lost their lives to protect the society against the evil
phenomenon of the drug addiction.

He further urged the organizations and ministries member to the DCHQ to
actively take part in the efforts to curb the narcotics dilemma. He called
on the officials to develop the cultural measures to curb the drug problem.

Iran sits on the crossroads of the international drug trade which
originates from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan to markets in Central
Asia, Europe and Persian Gulf littoral states. The fight against drug
trafficking, particularly in the eastern borders, has seen thousands of
police officers killed in drug-related battles throughout the country over
the past two decades.

There are about 1.8 million people abusing illicit drugs in Iran of whom
600,000 abuse narcotic drugs occasionally.

Most of the drug addicts consume opium but the consumption of heroin, in
particular by injection, is on the rise.

The increasing abuse of illicit drugs have created complicated problems in
particular the overcrowding of the prisons. Abusing illicit drugs through
injection was a major factor responsible for the AIDS infection in Iran.