5000000 Heroin Addicts In Iran

While much is known about the problem in neighbouring Afghanistan, and particularly about the explosion in opium production since the US-led invasion seven years ago, Iran’s significant drug challenge is below the radar. But Iran shares a long border with Afghanistan, which produces 90 per cent of the world’s opium, and as much as half of that is smuggled through Iran, partly for export and partly for consumption by people such as Mr Fatehi. Iran’s addicts spend $3bn (€2.1bn, £1.5bn) – the equivalent of 15 per cent of Iran’s annual oil income – on drugs each year and their problem has led to a multitude of social ills, including an increase in HIV infections. There are about 70,000 HIV/Aids sufferers in Iran, about 60 per cent of whom were infected by sharing needles. But just as Iran is a victim of its geography, Mr Fatehi, 37, was in some ways a victim of his success. ... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4d997ac-d665-11dc-b9f4-0000779fd2ac.html

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