Counterfeit and adulterated illicit drugs kill around 7,000 people in Iran each year, a senior anti-narcotics official said on Thursday, warning that dangerous impurities in illegal drugs have become a major public health concern.
The comments, published by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), came as officials highlighted the growing presence of new psychoactive substances that they say are not covered by Iran's current anti-drug legislation.
"Seven thousand people die every year because of consuming counterfeit narcotics," Amirhossein Yavari, deputy for prevention and treatment at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said.
"These deaths occur because of impurities and dangerous compounds found in illicit narcotics and psychotropic substances, and accurate public awareness can play an important role in reducing the harm."
Contaminants and hazardous additives in illegal narcotics and psychotropic substances have made them increasingly dangerous, Yavari said.
Iran has one of the world’s most serious drug-use problems, driven by its proximity to Afghanistan and the long-standing availability of opium and heroin.
Official and expert estimates vary, but Iran is generally believed to have around 2.8 million regular drug users, while broader estimates including occasional users can reach 4 million or more.
Last week, Soleiman Abbasi, Director General of Treatment at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, warned of the rapid spread of synthetic narcotics and new psychoactive substances in Iran, announcing that the number of people with substance use disorders in the country has reached approximately 3.8 million.
Opium remains the most common drug, though heroin, methamphetamine and synthetic drugs have also become major concerns.
Hundreds of substances outside legal framework
In separate comments, Mohammad Tarahomi, legal and parliamentary affairs director at Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said around 409 narcotic, psychotropic and new psychoactive substances identified in Iran are not included in the country's official list of controlled drugs.
Updating the list is one of the most urgent priorities in proposed amendments to Iran's anti-drug law because it has not been revised since 2011, Tarahomi said.
"In the past we generally classified drugs into three main groups: narcotics, psychotropic substances and stimulants," Tarahomi added. "Today, not only in Iran but around the world, we are facing a phenomenon known as new psychoactive substances."
Many of the newer compounds, he said, have more severe effects than traditional narcotics or previously known synthetic drugs and differ in how they affect users.
A study using Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization data by Lancaster University of the United Kingdom recorded 11,944 drug-related deaths between March 2022 and March 2024, with the average age of death around 37 and men accounting for the overwhelming majority.
Older official data showed about 3,000 drug-abuse deaths a year, suggesting the annual toll has risen sharply in recent years.
Not all of the substances are entirely new, Tarahomi added. Some, including so-called magic mushrooms, have existed for years but have become subject to tighter restrictions as evidence of their medical and social consequences has grown.
Most newly identified substances, however, are synthetic chemicals created by combining existing compounds to produce drugs with different effects.
Tarahomi said some new psychoactive substances can have even more severe consequences than established narcotics and stimulants, citing cases in which methamphetamine-induced psychosis has led users to lose touch with reality and commit violent crimes.
Manufacturers, he added, can rapidly create new substances by making minor chemical changes, making quicker legal updates essential to keep pace with the evolving drug market.
