Drug addicts account for 40% of minor crimes in the country including drug dealing, pick-pocketing, and petty thefts; therefore they can create insecurity in the community, said Alireza Jazini, deputy secretary general of the Drug Control Headquarters (DCH).
One of the concerns of the people is the presence of addicts on the streets of cities and towns. “Some measures have been taken to round up addicts and send them to shelters in Tehran and other metropolises. There are 2000 shelters in the capital and the number is likely to increase to 6800,” he said, adding that doubling the capacity of shelters for addicts in the next six months is on the DCH agenda, Mehr News Agency reported.
To prevent illicit drugs from entering the country, “we have beefed up security at national borders. In the past year, 44 border surveillance towers and five border security forces have been added to enforce the security of border areas,” he said.
Jazini denied the presence of the deadly ‘Krokodil’ (crocodile) drug in the country and said “the illicit drug first surfaced in Russia several years ago, where users discovered it was much cheaper than heroin and easily accessible.”
‘Krokodil’ or ‘desomorphine,’ is a synthetic opiate several times more powerful than heroin. It can be made from household ingredients that are readily available and cheap. It is a drug often used by the poor and has “terrifying effects,” he said. The drug literally “eats a person from the inside out, rotting their flesh and leaving their bones and muscle tissue exposed.” The person’s skin becomes scaly and green.
