Drug Prevention Programs in Schools

Seventy billion rials ($1.8 million) has been allocated for drug prevention programs among school students for the current fiscal year (ends March 20), said Hamid Sarami, deputy for research and training at Iran Drug Control Headquarters (IDCH). Given that there are 13.5 million students in the country and the preventive programs should cover the entire student population, he urged the authorities to allocate more funds for such programs in the upcoming year, the Young Journalists Club (YJC) reported. Earlier, IDCH vice president Alireza Jazini had said that 1% of all school students are falling victims to drugs. “This does not mean they are addicted, but they do experiment with drugs as a pastime.”