TEHRAN - Parviz Afshar, the new spokesman for the Iran Drug Control Headquarters, says that drug seizures have increased by 21 percent compared to the last year.

Afshar, who was speaking during his first press conference on Sunday morning in Tehran, briefed reporters on the center’s activities and achievements over the last seven months.
The Iranian calendar year began on March 21, 2015.
A total amount of 366,577 kilograms of drugs, including nine tons of heroin, 2,701 kilogram of morphine, 1,243 kilograms of crystal meth, 283 tons of opium and 55,000 kilograms of hashish have been seized since March 21, 2015, Afshar explained.
He said that during the mentioned period 1,510 fighting operations against drug smugglers were carried out during which 1,767 gangs were disbanded, 133 workshops and laboratories active in producing crystal meth discovered and two police officers lost their lives.
The serious measures taken by law enforcement sources across Iran have led to increase in the price of crystal meth, Afshar said, adding that a kilo of crystal meth now costs about 58,700,000 tomans ($17,290) while it was 18,900,000 tomans ($5,567) last year. 
The opium price has dropped by 34 percent, and the retail price of heroin has increased by 2 percent, he added.
Increase in crystal meth price and decrease in opium may push the consumers towards using the latter one, he said. “Given the opium many not satisfy the consumers, they may be tempted towards using heroin.” Afshar warned that necessary measures must be taken to block the heroin produced in Afghanistan to reach Iran.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Afshar said that the deaths caused by smoking drugs have increased only one percent, but what is more embarrassing is the 33 percent increase in the death of female addicts compared with the last year (March 2014-March 2015).  
He said that women constitute 10 percent of the addicted population of the country, and they are more fragile and vulnerable in comparison to men.
As women are timid, they hide their addiction and do not refer to medical centers for treatment, so they are more in danger, he added.

He also said that five percent of the drug products are being consumed in the southeastern province of Kerman but fatalities there are lower as consumers mostly smoke opium which is safer than injection of the industrial drugs which may result in hepatitis and HIV.

Afshar dismissed rumors that there are 70,000 addicted infants in Iran, saying the figures cannot be logically correct.

Given that there are currently 120,000 female addicts in Iran, according to valid and national statistics, it is not possible that 70,000 of them to have given birth to addicted infants, he explained.

Afshar explained that the drug headquarters is concerned about addicted infants but it is not officially responsible for them.
He explained that addicted infants suffer from neonatal abstinence syndrome when they are born and the Health Ministry is officially responsible and has already developed some plans to take care of them.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome occurs because a pregnant woman takes opiate or narcotic drugs such as heroin, codeine, etc. These and other substances pass through the placenta that connects the baby to its mother in the womb. The baby becomes drug-addicted along with the mother. At birth, the baby is still dependent on the drug. Because the baby is no longer getting the drug after birth, symptoms of withdrawal may occur.

Edited by Mohammad Ali Saki