Iran urges Italy Switzerland to play active role in antidrugs fight
Iran urges Italy, Switzerland to play active role in anti-drugs fight
TEHRAN – The Secretary General of Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ), Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaqari, in separate meetings with the central director for Italy’s Anti-Drug Services DCSA (Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Services), General Pierangelo Iannotti, and the head of the International Affairs Division of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) of Switzerland, Barbara Schedler Fischer, has called for expanding cooperation to play a more effective role in combating drug-related issues.
The officials met on the sidelines of the 68th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which was held from March 10 to 14 in Vienna, Austria.
During the meeting with the Italian official, Zolfaqari elaborated on the structure of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters and Iran’s geographical location on the Balkan transit route to Europe. “The attractive European market tempts drug traffickers; one of the negative consequences of this economic corruption is the irreparable losses that we are going through in our own region.”
Referring to the discovery of approximately 440 tons of narcotics in Iran, including 38 tons of methamphetamine, in 2024, he said, “Some of the shipments were destined for European countries.”
The two countries used to collaborate in the fight against drugs by sharing expertise and information and holding training courses. Still, this cooperation has come to a halt recently, Zolfaqari noted.
For his part, Iannotti said, “We are well aware of Iran’s extensive activities and great measures in detecting drugs being trafficked from Afghanistan to Europe.”
Commending Iran’s efforts, the official said, “Our liaison officer at the Italian Embassy in Tehran is responsible for promoting cooperation, exchanging information, and holding training workshops for drug detection dogs.
In the meeting with Schedler Fischer, the secretary general of Iranian DCHQ said that despite Iran’s measures and achievements in the fight against drugs, the country is unfortunately facing discrimination from some countries, particularly Western countries.”
Highlighting the discovery of 5,000 tons of different sorts of narcotics, over the past five years, Zolfaqari said as the result of Iran’s countermeasures, such as focusing on intelligence-based operations, the risk factor for smuggling from the country has increased; in the last five years, international smuggling gangs have started to use alternative routes like sea.
The official went on to enumerate Iran’s efforts in demand reduction, harm reduction, treatment, rehabilitation, and reunification of recovered individuals to society. “In this regard, a comprehensive document on primary prevention of addiction has been developed and implemented, the main goal of which is to reduce the incidence of addiction by covering 40 percent of the country’s entire population.”
Prevention activities are offered in families, educational centers (schools and universities), work environments, and neighborhoods. Harm reduction programs in the form of developing mobile teams and mobile centers have focused on providing services such as sterile syringes and needles, distributing meals, hygiene items, bathing facilities, sleeping overnight in shelters, and low-threshold methadone to drug addicts who are homeless, destitute, and have sexually transmitted diseases, he stressed.
“Improving the country’s treatment capacities, management of treatment centers, including industrial and synthetic substances, the number of addiction treatment centers has increased to 7,200 centers in residential, outpatient and inpatient rehabs.
Thanks to prevention programs, harm reduction, treatment, rehabilitation, and implementation of the ‘Life Helpers’ project over the past five years, the transmission rate of HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne infections associated with drug use, as well as injection drug use, and its prevalence in the country, have been contained and controlled.
Recognizing the significance of Iran’s efforts, Schedler Fischer said, “We understand Iran’s geographical location and conditions, and the resulted hardships and challenges.”
Calling the harm reduction program of Iran significant, Schedler Fischer said the Swiss harm reduction program aims to strengthen the prevention of addiction and ensure the long-term treatment of people with an addiction. She announced the country’s readiness to exchange knowledge and experiences in this field.
‘Unilateral sanctions hinder counter-narcotics measures’
Addressing the 68th session of the United Nations CND, Zolfaqari said imposing unfair sanctions against Iran not only increases the costs of implementing treatment and harm reduction programs but also challenges developing effective strategies for combating drug trafficking.
Despite all efforts made to overcome the problem, national and international drug control systems are struggling with the rapid emergence of the new psychoactive substances (NPS), Zolfaqari stressed.
The official went on to propose some methods for treating drugs and drug-related issues more effectively, underscoring the need for expanding cooperation, strengthening mechanisms for information exchange, sharing experiences, providing technical assistance and equipment, and transferring needed technologies to countries affected by illegal production, transit, and consumption of drugs.
Diversifying treatment methods and facilitating access to drugs for medical purposes are among the top priorities of countries to reduce demand for illegal use of drugs. Hence, facilitating the exchange of the latest expertise and findings is essential, he added.
Referring to successful initiatives that have been ceased or are partially active, such as the agreement supported by the UNODC between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to cooperate in the area of counter-narcotics enforcement, Zolfaqari said international communities are expected to fund the UNODC to support such regional agreements.
“In line with the implementation of numerous resolutions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Human Rights Council, we call for an end to sanctions and the procurement of effective technical and equipment assistance to countries on the front lines of the fight against drugs,” Zolfaqari further noted.
MT/MG
source: tehrantimes.com