TEHRAN – An Iranian delegation headed by Eskandar Momeni, the director of anti-narcotics police headquarters, will attend the 65th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

The event will take place on March 14-18 in Vienna, Austria.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Health Organization (WHO), and International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) – come together to hold a Joint Call to Action on Scaling Up the Implementation of International Drug Policy Commitments on Improving Availability of and Access to Controlled Substances for Medical and Scientific Purposes.

The Joint Call to Action raises awareness of the importance of improving the availability of and access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, underscoring the critical need for sustainable funding in this area.

While delivering a speech at the meeting of the Narcotics Commission, Momeni will meet Ghada Wali, Director-General of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and sign a joint cooperation agreement.

They will also have multilateral meetings and visits with relevant UN officials and relevant Austrian officials.

Iran holds world record for narcotics confiscation 

Iran holds the record for narcotics confiscation in the world, Momeni said in December 2021.

However, great achievements in the field of countermeasures have been gained, and the United Nations has officially announced that 90 percent of opium, 70 percent of morphine, and 20 percent of world heroin have been discovered by Iran.

Last year, about 1,200 tons of drugs were discovered, which was the highest rate of discovery in the world,” he explained.

According to figures released by the United Nations in 2000, Afghanistan produced about 200 tons of narcotics, but in 2018, it has grown to 9,500 tons.

In other words, the production of narcotics has increased fifty times, which has doubled the need for prevention efforts, he highlighted.

Despite the conditions caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the imposition of harsh sanctions against the country, fortunately, with the efforts of anti-narcotics police in 2020, drug detection increased by 41 percent.

After the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), 3,800 were martyred, 12,000 were wounded and disabled in the fight against drug trafficking.

The UNODC has praised Iran’s efforts to fight against narcotics trafficking on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The organization also officially announced that the world’s first place in the discovery of opium, heroin, and morphine belongs to Iran.

According to UNODC, Iran remains one of the major transit routes for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to European countries and has had a leading role at the global level in drug-control campaigns.

UNODC World Drug Report 2020 estimates that in 2018, 91 percent of world opium, 48 percent of the world morphine, and 26 percent of the world heroin were seized by Iran.

FB/MG