The Islamic Republic’s approach to the issue of addiction in the past four decades has been lacking proper planning. At different times, the Islamic Republic has resorted to widespread arrests and “strike operations” to combat addiction. The execution of drug traffickers has also been a policy that the Islamic Republic has implemented since its inception. In the early years of the revolution, Sadegh Khalkhali, the chief of justice, symbolized the Islamic Republic’s approach by conducting widespread and mass arrests of addicts on the streets and issuing death sentences for drug possession. The photo below, taken from a BBC video, shows a group of people gathered on the street and being dealt with by Khalkhali. As the image shows, their hair has been cut in the middle to humiliate them. In the video, one of the arrested individuals confesses to being an addict, but adds that he was only arrested that day because of his appearance.

The policies of the Islamic Republic regarding the issue of addiction have been a complete failure in the past forty years, and the statistics published by the Iranian government itself about the prevalence of addiction confirm this statement. Considering this issue, the question arises as to why the Islamic Republic has not changed its approach? It should be noted that the change in the law on drug control in 2017 was a positive step and led to a significant decrease in executions related to drug offenses. However, the overall approach of the Iranian government towards addiction is based on a perspective that aims to “fight against vices.”

A look at the laws of the Islamic Republic and the statements of Iranian officials shows that they are very sensitive to the occurrence of “corruption” in the public sphere, and many legal and judicial decisions are based on reducing the occurrence of immoral behaviors from the government’s point of view. The existence of crimes such as “pretending to fast” and “pretending to be unveiled” indicates that the primary goal of the legislator is to deal with the spread of deviance in the public sphere, not to reform the morals of citizens in the private sphere. The approach to dealing with “open addicts” is also based on this approach: individuals who commit the act of addiction – meaning making it public – must be subject to judicial action. Citizens who use drugs in the privacy of their homes are not a priority for law enforcement and security forces. This is while those who openly use drugs in public places are among the most disadvantaged social classes and are in need of social assistance more than anyone else.

Plans like dealing with open drug addicts, which have recently been brought up again under a new name, have been implemented intermittently in recent decades. In December 2000, law enforcement carried out a major operation in the Khak-e-Sefid neighborhood of Tehran to combat addiction and “hooligans.” Fifteen years later, the Tasnim News Agency reported on that neighborhood. In part of this report, one of the residents of the neighborhood says, “15 years ago, Mr. Ghalibaf was the police chief and in a fundamental move to clean up the hooligans and drug dealers who considered this neighborhood a safe haven for themselves, he carried out a decisive operation in which some of the drug dealers were arrested due to their carelessness, some fled to other neighborhoods in Tehran, and others scattered in this neighborhood and are still continuing their activities. In the 12 years that Ghalibaf has been the mayor of Tehran, they have not paid any attention to this

An internet search of news headlines in the past decades shows that the authorities of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly promised to address addiction and have announced their actions, including arresting suspects and destroying drugs, in the media. However, these actions have never been accompanied by well-planned strategies to combat addiction. The reality is that the actions of the Islamic Republic regarding the issue of addiction are aimed at covering up the depth of the problem and portraying a moral and strict image of the government. The statements of Hossein Rahimi, the commander of the Tehran Police Force, clearly demonstrate the Iranian government’s goal of using the police plan to gather open drug addicts. He refers to the “requests and demands” of citizens as the reason for implementing this plan, which shows that the plan is being carried out for political purposes. He then expresses hope that “on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the revolution, we will witness good events in this regard.” Linking this plan to the anniversary of