TEHRAN (Iran News) – National anti-drug week to highlight international cooperation. The national anti-drug week will be held on June 25-31 concurrent with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking focusing on regional and international cooperation.
In 1987, the General Assembly decided to observe June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
This year, the day is observed with a theme of “Together, we can tackle the world drug problem!”, aiming to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society.
Iran also marks the day during a week, each day of the week has assigned a special theme this year as follows:
Friday, June 25: the role of religious principles and spirituality in drug use prevention
Saturday, June 26: cross-sectoral and international cooperation
Sunday, June 27: family and educational environments
Monday, June 28: new therapies and social support
Tuesday, June 29: anti-drug diplomacy
Wednesday, June 30: social participation
Thursday, June 31: effective insurance, more access to mental health services
Drug trafficking fight requires common understanding
Iranian deputy anti-narcotics police chief Naghi Mahmoudi has stressed that the drug trafficking fight requires a common understanding and action by all members of the international community, and no country alone can address the challenges in this area.
Stressed the importance of improving the level of regional and international cooperation, he said that conducting joint operations, simultaneously and based on the rapid exchange of information is of great importance.
Despite the conditions caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the imposition of harsh sanctions against the country, fortunately, with the efforts of anti-narcotics police in 2020, drug detection increased by 41 percent.
Battle against narcotics continues despite sanctions, pandemic
Iran has carried on a battle against narcotics in spite of being highly affected by cruel sanctions and COVID-19 pandemic, Eskandar Momeni, the director of headquarters for the fight against narcotics, said on April 13.
Over the past three years, the counter-narcotics agencies and police forces succeeded in detecting about 2,917 tons of various types of narcotics.
After the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), 3,800 were martyred, 12,000 were wounded and disabled in the fight against drug trafficking.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The organization also officially announced that the world’s first place in the discovery of opium, heroin, and morphine belongs to Iran.
According to UNODC, Iran remains one of the major transit routes for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to European countries and has had a leading role at the global level in drug-control campaigns.
UNODC World Drug Report 2020 estimates that in 2018, 91 percent of world opium, 48 percent of the world morphine, and 26 percent of the world heroin were seized by Iran.
