Azernews.Az

By Trend

At least 1,527 people in Iran have lost their lives due to drug abuse, during the first half of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017), Iran's Legal Medicine Organization said in a message.

The figure indicates a fall by 4.8 percent compared to the same period of preceding year.

Meanwhile 1337 people were died of drug misuse, 190 people lost their lives due to abuse of stimulants, according to the report.

At least 166 of the dead were women, meanwhile the number of women died of drug abuse in the same period of preceding year was 153.

Iranian officials estimate that there are over 1.350 million drug addicts in the country. Despite the efforts made by Iranian law enforcement forces to stop it, drug trafficking still remains as a serious issue in the country.

An Iranian anti-drugs official earlier said that drug abuse annually inflicts a damage of over $15 billion to Iran's economy.

According to media reports, Iranians annually use about 450 tons of opium, which is equal to 42 percent of total opium consumed in the world.

Iranian officials say that the fight against drugs annually costs the country about $1 billion, while about two percent of Iranians abuse drugs.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz