Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Authorities say at least 1627 drug addicts died in Iran in seven months of 2013.

Deputy Head of Iranian Drug Control Organisation Babak Dinparast made the remark on December 4, noting that 1511 of them were male, IRNA reported.

"The number of deaths among drug addicts dropped seven per cent compared to the same period of 2012," he said. "The greatest number of deaths is observed in the provinces of Isfahan and Tehran."

Iran's National Police Chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam said earlier that about two million drug addicts live in Iran.

Between one to 1.3 million people use drugs permanently and about 700,000 people use the substances occasionally, he said.

Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states, and shares about 900 kilometers of a common border with Afghanistan, through which about 74 percent of opium is reportedly smuggled.

Iran's location has made the country a favorite transit corridor for drug traffickers who seek to smuggle their cargo from Afghanistan to drug dealers in Europe.

Iran has been actively fighting drug trafficking. According to official estimates, the fight against drugs annually costs Iran about $1 billion. The statistics also say that there are about 2 million drug users in Iran.