This is a picture of a beautiful sunset.[/caption]

این تصویری از غروب زیباست.

This is a picture of a beautiful sunset.Mohammad Mohabi

“Street addicts” is a term used to refer to addicts who live on the streets and sleep in cardboard boxes. These individuals, due to excessive addiction, extreme poverty, and poor nutrition and hygiene, have visible signs of their addiction on their appearance and body. The collection of these types of addicts is the responsibility of the Welfare Organization according to law and custom. However, a new plan is currently being implemented that involves the involvement of military forces (Revolutionary Guard and Basij) in this work.

The issue of drugs and drug addicts, in fact, is a social problem and ultimately a health and medical issue. The involvement of military forces in this issue is not justifiable by any rule or rationality. The military’s involvement in this matter only makes it more insecure. Generally, securing different issues is one of the arts of the Islamic Republic. Throughout the life of this system, even more normal issues have taken on a security color. A broad view of the security issue generally makes problem-solving more difficult.

On the other hand, securing the issue of addicts poses a serious threat to their dignity and natural rights. The reason for this is quite clear: cases that are labeled as military or security issues, or are handed over to military and security institutions, are not primarily addressed for their underlying causes. No one thinks about a fundamental and systematic approach, and the military and security forces, with their acquired disabilities, deal with the issue in a hammer-like and immediate manner. Meanwhile, addiction and addicts, especially open addicts, are the result of several factors and variables, and solving many of these variables is not the responsibility of military and security forces. The military and security forces can ultimately deal with the phenomenon of drug trafficking, and even then, only in a police and military manner. The result of this hammer-like and disabled approach, and the disregard for roots and causes, inevitably leads to the neglect and violation of the rights of a certain segment of citizens who have fallen into a diseased state mostly due to

Apparently, one of the reasons that the Welfare Organization has been forced to hand over the collection of open addicts to the Revolutionary Guards and Basij is “the shortcomings of the Ministry of Health”. Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpei, the head of the Welfare Organization, said in an interview: “It was decided that addicted patients would be referred and accepted in some hospitals by the Ministry of Health, but this ministry has not cooperated well with us yet.” Apart from this, in the camps of the Welfare Organization, there were also sometimes ugly behaviors towards addicts, even Mohseni Bandpei himself admitted in the same interview and said: “In the past, the actions were arbitrary, in the camps, unethical actions such as tying addicts to water, whipping, beating with sticks and then releasing them…”.

Officials, insist on using the word “collection”, which undoubtedly, this word is used without considering the human dignity of addicts and provides the grounds for violating their rights. This disrespectful term is usually used for city waste; unless addicts are waste themselves! Of course, this issue is prevalent in Iran and is also used to clean up other social damages. For example, when the issue of child labor is raised, institutions such as the Welfare Organization, municipality, and police say that these children should be “collected” from the city; while other words such as organization and handling can also be used.

Even the word “addict” itself is a derogatory and incorrect term for this issue. In Persian culture, the word “motejaher” is equivalent to “someone who deliberately reveals their actions and deeds.” In Persian dictionaries, “motejaher” is defined as “someone who openly commits immorality and corruption.” However, these addicts do not intentionally and maliciously engage in this behavior, and their actions cannot be considered as “immorality and corruption.” It is worth noting that in Iranian criminal laws, addiction is also considered a “crime” under the Anti-Narcotics Law, which contradicts the principles of criminal law and cannot be considered a crime to be addicted to something. Despite labeling addiction as a crime in laws, the presence of cardboard addicts in society is not considered as “immorality and corruption.”

The important question here is whether the cardboard addicts, intentionally and with a clear conscience, have spread throughout the city of Tehran and are using drugs in public with great enthusiasm. These are the same individuals who have fallen into the swamp of addiction due to the wrong policies of the government, out of ignorance, poverty, mental illness, and economic problems. However, since the institutions of the Islamic Republic are not willing to address the underlying causes of social problems, they are only focused on dealing with the disabled by simply covering up the issue.

In the city of Tehran, there are several areas where cardboard addicts gather. Herandi, Shoush and Molavi, Rah-Ahan, Javadiyeh, the end of Abbasid, the end of Navab, and others are among the areas with a high concentration of cardboard addicts. Despite organizations such as the municipality, law enforcement and the Tehran Welfare Organization receiving large budgets under the pretext of reducing social harms, including addiction in these areas, we still see that day by day and year by year, the number of cardboard addicts in these neighborhoods has increased. Now the question is, where do these institutions and organizations spend these budgets that not only has the number of cardboard addicts not decreased, but has actually increased?

A few days ago, news was released that the infamous Kahrizak detention center, which has become synonymous with tragedy and death, is planned to be turned into a “facility for the detention and rehabilitation of open drug addicts.” This can also be considered a humiliation, even if the quality of this center improves (which has not been achieved and media reports indicate a worsening of its facilities), it is still better for it to be completely shut down due to its notoriety.

Rehabilitation is a modern concept in criminology and sociology for addressing social problems. Two categories of individuals should be kept in rehabilitation centers and prepared to return to society: one, some offenders of minor crimes who do not have a prison sentence or a severe prison sentence, but have specific psychological or physiological conditions, and the other, some patients including addicts. Every government is obligated to establish suitable centers and camps for the rehabilitation of these individuals, and the necessary condition for the improvement of these citizens and their return to society is the principled and appropriate nature of rehabilitation camps. In these camps, specialists must have the best facilities to provide suitable services to those referred there, and with respect to human dignity and the civil and natural rights of individuals, treat them and not allow anyone to insult or violate their rights.

Note:

1. Shortcomings of the Ministry of Health in accepting addicts, Fars News Agency, July 1, 2018.