Series: Part 1 Of 3: The Enemy Within

THE HEROIN ROUTE FROM AFGHANISTAN TO EUROPE

Darkness falls on thousands of adobe houses in Shir-Abad, beyond the
runways of Zahedan airport. A group of Afghan refugees, aged 15 to 50, has
gathered round a brazier, amid mounds of trash. Some left home 20 years
ago, others only last December. A pan is boiling up the ashes of a heroin
joint that they have just smoked. The recycled fluid can then be injected.
Disregarding the risk of Aids contamination, the same syringes go the
rounds between pock-marked arms.

The youngest of the addicts begs our guide: "Give me some money, so I can
buy a shot. Please." One of his companions has the presence of mind to
brush aside the children from the neighbourhood who have come to watch this
curious adult ritual.

Shir-Abad does not exist officially, unmarked on maps of Zahedan.

Iran has one of the world's highest numbers of heroin and opium addicts
(1). According to official figures there are 1.2m addicts and 800,000
occasional users out of a population of 73m. But an Iranian journalist who
specialises in the subject disagrees. "These figures, which date from 1999,
are much lower than the reality. There is still a taboo about drugs." In
January, government-run television (controlled by the conservatives)
reported that police had arrested dozens of "sexual perverts who were
bothering women" in Haft-e-Tir park. In fact they were addicts and dealers.
In southern Teheran's streets and gardens the pasty faces of heroin and
opium addicts are common. Opium sells for 20,000 rials ($2.5) a gram, a
dose of heroin for half as much. Street prices have tripled since last
summer. The heroin is 90% cut and regularly causes fatal intoxication, 90
deaths in three months just in the Teheran area.

For centuries people in Iran have been using moderate amounts of opium, as
part of traditional activities linked to poetry and to mysticism. To smoke
a pipe of opium is still customary, particularly among old people, in
Kerman, among nomads in Isfahan province, among Kashgai nomads in the
Shiraz area, and in the Kurdish and Azeri provinces of western Iran.

But consumption of opiates now has less and less to do with cultural
traditions. It is becoming a social issue, fed by a plentiful supply of
narcotics and exacerbated by economic problems.

Unemployment affects 20% of Iran's population, with 53% living below the
poverty line. Of the urban poor, it is the mojahirs (refugees) who are
worst affected. They may be Afghans or Iranians, uprooted by the Iran-Iraq
war or rural depopulation. They are particularly vulnerable because they
have lost their bearings and the positive influence of their community. In
Khorasan, Seistan-Baluchistan and Kerman, the provinces most affected by
drug abuse, the addiction of a partner is the reason for 70% of divorces.

Another key factor is boredom among the young. The younger generation 70%
of the population is under 35 focuses on the national and Western features
of Iran's Indo-European identity, rather than Islamic values. But the
religious authorities have outlawed Western culture. Most young people
resort to forbidden pleasures: pop music smuggled in from neighbouring
countries or downloaded from the internet, black market videos, illegal
parties and concerts, contraband alcohol.

In this context, hard drugs may be seen as just another illegal activity.
If the conservatives, who have lost every election since 1997, were to
loosen their grip even slightly, it would give youth a breathing space. It
seems unlikely. Internet cafes have proved such a success that there are
now moves to have them banned.

"When people fail to adapt to society, they seek energy and inspiration in
drugs," explains Hossein Dezhakam, a social worker. He should know, having
used all sorts of drugs for more than 20 years. He now works for the Aftab
NGO in Teheran, trying to help addicts. Every day, 50 men and women, aged
14-70, visit Aftab premises to take part in group therapy. "Unfortunately,
drugs are attractive," says Dezhakam. In January there were only three
anti-drug posters in the whole of Teheran, a city of 12m people, but the
availability of information is improving.

Official sources used to claim that drug abuse had disappeared with the
fall of the Shah. In recent campaigns the authorities have dropped their
institutional cant for a more streetwise approach. Warning ads are
increasingly common on television targeting young people, stressing the
damage done by heroin and opium. In January the government authorised
chemists to distribute sterile syringes to restrict injection-related
contamination.

This would have been inconceivable until recently. When they re-elected
Khatami in 2001, Iranians demanded a public reappraisal of the system's
weaknesses. Slowly lifting the taboo on drug abuse is part of this.

(1) According to the UN, in 2000 2.8% of Iran's population was addicted to
heroin or opium, compared to 2.1% in Laos, 2% in Tajikistan and 1.7% in
Pakistan.