The 10th round of International Addiction Science Congress will be held September 14-16 at Tehran’s Razi Conference Hall.
It is organized jointly by the Cellular and Molecular Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences, and the Substance Abuse and Dependence Research Center affiliated to Tehran’s University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences.
“Advancing the slogan ‘Toward Interdisciplinary Research in Addiction Science’, this year’s edition focuses on prevention,” said Dr. Mohammad Taqi Joghataei, a senior official at the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, and head of the confab, Mehr News Agency reported.
The major topics that will be covered during the congress include substance abuse prevention, research concerning addiction and abuse epidemiology, sexual behavior in drug abuse, psychological disorders in addiction, physical disorders, addiction nursing, and social work in addiction, treatment, and recovery.
As one of the largest events in the area of substance abuse, the confab will also include 40 symposiums hosting 15 local and foreign experts and key note speakers, as well as several scientific workshops.
A large number of national executive bodies will cooperate in holding the event, namely, Iran Drug Control Headquarters, Anti-Drug Police, Food and Drug Administration, Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs, State Welfare Organization, Iranian Red Crescent Society, relevant NGOs and associations, and the Iran Legal Medicine Organization.
International bodies will also be represented, including the local offices of the UNICEF and UNODC, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Noting that addiction has increasingly become a major challenge across the world, Joghataei hoped the event would bring together competent national and international organizations to help take important measures in promoting knowledge on addiction and its curtailment.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan, has become the main conduit for smuggling drugs from the neighboring country to kingpins in Europe.
More than $700 million has been spent by the government in the past three decades to seal the borders and prevent the illegal drug trade destined for lucrative markets in Europe, neighboring Arab states and Central Asia.