Iranian police statistics reveal that 652 new drug-related cases are created every day and 30 people are arrested every hour on drug-related charges.
The Mehr news agency reported on Saturday January 12 on the unprecedented prevalence of drugs in the country, citing the latest statistics released by the police department.
The report adds that in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (which starts in March), 1,286 kg of drugs have been confiscated and 53 kg are being discovered every hour.
The police report indicates 200,000 people have been arrested on drug-related charges in the first nine months of the current year. In the same period, 1,700 drug gangs have been identified and dismantled.
Eighty percent of the drug crimes were committed in the southern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchistan, according to the report, which also indicates a five-percent increase in drug activities.
Last July, former health minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi said that if one includes the families of individuals suffering from drug addiction, between five million and 10 million Iranians are wrestling with the problem of drug addiction.
The head of the Task Force to Fight Drugs issued official figures showing 1.8 million people are addicted to drug use and 3.9 percent of them are women.
