President Hassan Rouhani urged the international community to play a more responsible role in the campaign against drug trafficking and abuse, stressing the issue is not restricted to Iran.
The president made the remarks in a meeting of Iran Drug Control Headquarters in Tehran on Sunday, IRNA reported.
Hailing efforts by military and police forces to control borders and combat drug cartels, he said, "Sacrifices made by the public as well as police forces have prevented the transit of drugs via Iran to the EU to a great extent."
Noting that addicts are members of the society who are trapped in drug abuse, he asked all related departments to focus their efforts to save addicts. He also called for greater involvement of NGOs in efforts to curb drug abuse and treat addicts. In the meeting, a number of proposals including one on the protection of the families of rehabilitated addicts were approved. In addition, four provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Hormozgan and West Azarbaijan were selected as priority target provinces for the implementation of drug control projects.
Drug trafficking represents a major challenge to Iran. The geographical location of the country, particularly its 1,923 km-long eastern border with Afghanistan - the world's largest opium producer - and Pakistan, has turned it into a major transit route for illicit drugs.
In response to this challenge, the country has built one of the strongest counter-narcotics enforcement capabilities in the region over the years. According to the World Drug Report 2014 prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Iran accounted for 74% of the world's opium seizures and 25% of the world's heroin and morphine seizures in 2012.
