Atekeh Tehrani who is working in the drug abuse department of the State Welfare Organization told IRNA that the polydrug consumption is growing in Iran.

She said some addicts are abusing several kinds of illicit drugs including lsd, heroin, opium and its derivatives.

She added that the young abusers are tending now to consume heroin instead of other narcotics due to the heroin low prices and easy access to the opiate.

She went on to say that consumption of the ecstasy tablets is on the rise and the youth consume it in parties, coffee shops and in public gardens.

She said the ecstasy is distributed under different forms adding a new strategy should be developed that considers both drug demand reduction and supply control measures.

Treatment of addiction through psychological means and family-therapy are nowadays considered among effective ways of treatment of drug addicts, she added.

Tehrani said the new substances employed to treat addicts in addiction treatment centers have proved to be very effective.

She said the increasing amounts of drugs consumed In Iran is a source of big concern adding that the addiction is the cause of many diseases.

An optimal use should be made of available resources to tackle the thorny drug-related problems facing the people and in particular the youth, she noted.

Iran straddles major international transit routes of drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan, better known as the "golden crescent", for lucrative markets in Europe, Persian Gulf and Central Asia.

According to official figures, there are two million drug users as well as 1.2 million addicts in Iran. The country's drug catches amount to 200,000 tons each year but more than twice that much make it into the market.

The campaign has gone dauntless either on far-flung mountains and deserts or inside cities against heavily-armed major drug traffickers and their petty accomplices who use highly complicated methods to dodge police.

... Payvand News - 4/27/03 ... --