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United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime chief Yury Fedotov is on a three day trip to Iran, to speak with officials in Tehran about Iran’s serious problems with drug addiction and narcotics trafficking.
The trip includes visits to border regions near Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as a drug rehabilitation center, in order to fully assess the situation with Iran’s drug trafficking and its response capabilities to addiction.
Iranian state-run media reports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for global cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, during talks with Fedotov on Wednesday.
UNODC says Iran has the world's highest rate of opium and heroin seizures. The agency also says Iran faces “one of the world's most serious addiction problems” but is providing effective drug treatment and HIV control services, partly as a result of support from non-governmental agencies.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the West for his region's drug problems during a speech to recovered addicts in June.
In addition, western human rights groups say Iran has executed hundreds convicted of drug crimes in the last year.
The article originally appeared on Voice of America on July 20, 2011.