Iran Asks Int’l Community to Adopt Pervasive Approach to Fighting Drugs

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Parent Category: سرویس اصلی

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TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli demanded the international community to adopt a pervasive and comprehensive approach to campaign against drugs, warning that drug abuse is showing rapid growth in the world.

“Lack of a pervasive approach to the drugs problem and lack of attention to the challenges existing in vulnerable areas will cause a spill over of this dilemma to the other countries,” Rahmani Fazli, who is also the head of Iran’s Anti-Drug Headquarters, said addressing the 57th annual meeting of the UN Narcotics Commission on Friday.

Also after a trilateral meeting with the Afghan and Pakistani officials on fighting drugs on the sidelines of the UN meeting in Vienna, he underlined the three countries’ determination to consolidate cooperation in fighting drugs and their demand for more assistance by the international community.

“As the states pioneering in fighting drugs, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan can expand their efforts and have more influence through cooperation,” Rahmani Fazli said.

Tehran has always complained about the EU and other international bodies' lack of serious cooperation with Iran in the campaign against drug trafficking from Afghanistan.

According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2013, Iran accounted for the highest rate of opium seizures (80 percent) as well as heroin seizures (30 percent) in the world this year.

According to official estimates, Iran's battle against drugs cost the country around $1 billion annually. Strategies pursued by Tehran include digging canals, building barriers and installing barbed wire to seal the country's borders, specially in the East.

Iran has recently established a central database and strengthened police-judiciary cooperation in a new effort to combat organized crime.

Every year, Iran burns more than 60 tons of seized narcotics as a symbol of its determination to fight drugs.

fars:Mar 15, 2014 2:46