The Iranian government has announced plans to open a Centre for Addiction especially for children. Reports indicate that many working children and those living in poor, marginal neighbourhoods of Tehran are addicted to crack and other drugs.
Fatemeh Daneshvar, who heads the Social Committee of Tehran City Council, told the Mehr News Agency that the city has issued a licence to open an addition centre dedicated to helping children.
Currently, infants suffering from addiction as a result of their mother’s addiction are cared for at Sina Hospital, but there is no one centre providing services specifically for children suffering from addiction.
There are no statistics in Iran regarding the number of children addicted to drugs; however, recent reports have indicated there are addicts as young as five years old.
In a field study by ISNA, 80 percent of working children in the report were said to be addicted to opium, hashish, crystal meth or crack.