Addiction prevention programs were planned to cover 40% of the student population since the beginning of the new calendar year (March 20) but due to the shortage of personnel, only 15% have been covered so far, said Parviz Afshar, drug demand reduction deputy at Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ). “Distribution of preventive literature in schools, holding mobile exhibitions, and provision of free-of-charge rehabilitation services to addicted students are among the newly developed programs,” IRNA quoted him as saying. A recent survey indicates about 130,000 students across the country have used illegal substances at least once during their lifetime and many are regular drug abusers.
