International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking commemorated by the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran and UNODC Iran

Tehran, 29 June – The Drug Control Headquarters of Iran (Islamic Republic of) and UNODC Iran jointly held an event on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June, and launching of the UNODC World Drug Report 2021. The resident Ambassadors and diplomats from Afghanistan, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine embassies in Tehran, and representatives from UNICEF and WHO joined the event to commemorate 26 June event. 

Mr. Amir Abbas Lotfi Sarabi, Director General of the International Relations Office of the Drug Control Headquarters opened the session and welcomed the participants.

Mr. Alexander Fedulov, UNODC Iran Country Representative, as the first speaker of the meeting delivered the statement of the Executive Director of UNODC Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly on the occasion of the 26 June event, followed by his speech on successful efforts by the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely Drug Control Headquarters and Iranian Law Enforcement, against the flow of illicit drugs and organized drug crime networks and operatives. The UNODC Iran Country Representative presented latest findings of the UNODC’s World Drug Report 2021. The UNODC 2021 theme “Share facts on Drugs. Save lives” was introduced to the audience. “It highlights the need for evidence-based approaches to equip the public, as well as health and service providers, and decision makers with the tools to inform choices and effective services” added Mr. Fedulov.

Ambassador Mohsen Esperi, Director General of the Environment and Sustainable Development International Affairs of the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his concern on increase in drug production and consumption based on population growth until 2030, and underlined the importance of shared responsibility by all member states in combating illicit drugs.

During this event, Iran’s new and balanced approach to medicine-based treatment and buprenorphine production line were also introduced by Mr. Vahid Ghobadi Dana, Head of the State Welfare Organization. He emphasized that drug demand reduction programmes can be successful only if they are combined with harm reduction and rehabilitation programmes. He further referred to the importance of three main principals of recovery, improving life style and social reintegration in harm reduction programmes. He stated that along with harm reduction centers, Iran has established and launched more than 9 thousand centers for treatment, rehabilitation and capacity building that can provide services to around 1,400,000 individuals annually, which has made the country the biggest treatment and harm reduction network in the region. He also referred to significant expansion of Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) in most of drug abuse treatment centers in the country in the last two decades and stated that with more than 7 thousand MMT centers, Iran is considered as the biggest MMT network in the region.

Mr. Eskandar Momeni, Secretary General of Drug Control Headquarters welcomed the participants. He referred to the findings of the World Drug Report 2021 and stated that Iran was accounted for 90 percent of the world’s opium, 72 percent of the world’s morphine and 20 percent of the world’s heroine seizures. A special tribute was conveyed to UNODC Iran for more than 22 years of joint cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran. He commended UNODC Iran for its fifth joint programme with the Islamic Republic of Iran and acknowledged UN agencies’, namely UNODC and UNICEF, cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran for their joint actions in the field of drug control and emphasized that the world drug problem is an inclusive, specialized and humanitarian challenge that should not be politicized. In the end, he reiterated Islamic Republic of Iran’s readiness and willingness to continue cooperation with the United Nations and other countries for a secure world, free of Corona and drugs for everybody.

In the end, selected athletes and artists were introduced as Drug Control Headquarters’ ambassadors for public diplomacy and drug use prevention.

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For more information you can contact:

Mr. Kaveh Moradi

Senior Programme Manager,

UNODC Iran

Tel.: +98 21 88 87 83 77,

Email: kaveh.moradi@un.org