TEHRAN — Thanks to drug rehab centers the number of drug abusers, including intravenous users, has dropped from 67 percent to 45 percent, the deputy chief of Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters said on Thursday.

On a conference focusing on the harms of drug abuse to the society, Alireza Jazini explained that there are some six million addicts in the country and based on the survey conducted 92 percent of the concerns in the society center around drug abuse and matters such as unemployment come after that.

“Currently addiction to drugs, especially hallucinogenic amphetamines, are the main threat to the 170 countries worldwide,” Jazini noted, IRNA reported.

The age of onset of drug use has decreased from 22 years old to 18 since 2001, he regretted.

“After accidents drug abuse is the second leading cause of death in the country,” he lamented.

According to a report by the UN there are 40 million drug users in the world of which 200,000 face death per annum. 3,000 of the deaths occur in Iran.

Jazini added that over the past years the number of addicted women has increased by 5 percent, reaching to 10 percent due to weight loss products containing amphetamines.

He further stated that prevention is a key factor which is strongly emphasized in the sixth five year development plan.

So far 6,600 have been martyred and 12,000 disabled in battles against drug smugglers, he said.

MQ/PA