۷Berkeh: “Drug lords are systematic, highly dynamic and creative”, says Mr. Governor, “and there are more than five hundred and forty kinds of traditional and synthetic drugs in our country. Whatever way we choose to fight with drug dealers, they enter from another way. This is why it is so hard to fight with drugs.”
Speaking in a small press conference during War on Drugs Week, Asghar Foroudi, Governor of Gerash, was trying to depict different aspects of this never-ending global war, “internationally deemed the fourth factor threatening our lives on this planet.” Mr. Foroudi reports that there are about one and a half million drug addicts in the country, and the trend in the demographic is changing: “comparing with the period between 2006 and 2010, women’s tendency towards drugs has increased in recent years. Married people also go to drugs more.” And these are not the only groups who are affected by the spread of drugs: “using drugs is spreading among high-school and university students, workers and other groups, too.”
The Governor’s Office looks at the issue as a social problem: “addiction to drugs endangers the health security of the society, since sixty-three percent of the addicts are in danger of AIDS. From the social aspect, addiction is the reason for fifty-five percent of the divorces, ten percent of moral crimes, and twenty-five percent of homicides.”
Foroudi, the highest government official in the county, told the reporters that nearly 1.5 percent of the population of Gerash, meaning nearly eight hundred people, are addicted to drugs. He also added: “There has been a sharp ninety-eight percent increase in apprehension of drug dealers in 2014 compared to 2013, due to special measures taken by the War on Drugs Committee and the police. Nevertheless, the discovery of drugs on the whole has dropped eighty percent in this period, while on the other hand, the discovery of synthetic drugs has increased eighty-five percent, which shows the easy accessibility to synthetic drugs.”
The Governor said the War on Drugs Committee is following an agenda on three levels: prevention, opposition and treatment: “different organizations are active in the coordinating council. The cultural and prevention workgroup is headed by the Welfare Office and other cultural and educational organizations; the military and disciplinary workgroup is headed by the police, Revolutionary Guards and other forces; and the treatment workgroup is headed by the School of Medical Sciences and Gerash hospital.” But he insists that the more effective way passes through the social institutions: “One of the most significant ways of fighting drugs is to make it people-based. We have mobilized people, NGOs, religious commissions, clerics and other social groups and institutions to help us in this war.”
Some words and expressions in this news story:
Governor’s Office: فرمانداری
traditional and synthetic drugs: مواد مخدر سنتی و صنعتی
War on Drugs Week: هفته مبارزه با مواد مخدر
prevention, opposition and treatment: پیشگیری، مقابله و درمان
