5:45 in the morning on 12th of Aban month, and most likely the weather is still wolf and bear, a red fire is attacking the sky that hasn’t taken life yet with the sunrise. This fire is catching the necks of the people who were there for liberation from addiction; the addiction recovery camp in Langroud called “First Step to Freedom”. The incidents that cannot be judged yet, whether they were accidental or intentionally took the lives of 36 people who were possibly close to stages of liberation.

Regardless of the fact that all dimensions of this incident should be investigated in order to prevent similar incidents in the future by explaining the reasons for its occurrence, on the other hand, this tragedy raises more fundamental questions and in fact, these issues arise from the same place in mind when we read narratives about the conditions of the Langaroud camp: “In the camp, the law of the jungle prevails. The camp is like a prison and only in appearance, its name is a rehabilitation center.”

Back then, they used to divide a 100-gram pack of cheese into 40 parts and give each person a slice of those 40 parts.

By reading these narratives, an important and fundamental question arises in the mind that may be the answer to the most important obstacle to liberation: What is the relationship between the social and economic class of individuals and their access to appropriate treatment for addicted patients? Is the law of the jungle also dominant in relatively affluent society in addiction treatment camps?

Step.

First.

Freedom;

Money.

In order to reach the answers to the questions that were previously mentioned, two addiction treatment camps in the northern and southern points of Tehran city have been examined in the present report.

“Alireza Mahmoudnejad” is the director of the addiction recovery camp “Ava-ye Miad Rahayi” in Tajrish. This private center has amenities such as a rooftop garden, and seeing these facilities alongside the stories of the inadequate conditions in some camps, unintentionally highlights the strong connection between financial resources and addiction recovery.

The manager of this camp, who believes that the wealthy and educated are among the hardest to leave, makes statements about the camp’s visitors: “Many celebrities come here. The people who come are those who are well-known financially in the country, but on the other hand, even average people come. Maybe 50% of these people are struggling financially.”

He understands the type of drug use based on the social and economic class of individuals: “The type of use is related to the class of individuals. Addiction is a disease of pleasure, and anyone who becomes addicted to any type of substance that brings pleasure is considered addicted. Addiction is a disease of imbalance in behavior, emotions, and managing financial resources. The foundation of addiction is fear. Each of the addicted patients are individuals who are afraid of being alone.”

The director of the addiction camp “Ava-ye Miad Rahayi” believes that in centers that receive minimal funds, proper treatment is not being provided: “Most of the centers in Tehran have only created a four-walled environment where no one consumes drugs, but when patients leave, they still have the urge to use.”

He adds: “Many of these centers in our country keep patients with a small amount of money and no treatment is done on them, because the environment is closed and there are no supplies. The important point is that sometimes there are also supplies found in these centers.”

This manager of the addiction treatment camp, who believes that the addict should be treated “rationally”, states that the reason for the incident at the Langroud addiction treatment camp was negligence on the part of the authorities of that center: “In our country, they provide all kinds of facilities to individuals and legal entities with money. For example, you can see that there is no center, but the work of the center is being done and there are several cases like this.”

Langaroudi.

Next.

In.

Road.

Is it?

There is no news of hotel facilities in the northern camps of the city. The camp with an old and abandoned beach facing the Iron Market in Naziaabad cannot even provide facilities equivalent to a hotel for addicted patients.

Families live behind the Alonak camp. A mother and father, along with their two children named Benjamin and Mehrad, who are both struggling with addiction. They say that if they had known they would become addicts, they would never have had children.

The head of the family claims to be spending the family’s expenses on his work, but the reality is that the children are getting full on the neighboring camp’s leftovers.

This is a world of the weak class of society. A place where some patients who are hospitalized in camps either do not have the money to pay for medical expenses or can only afford half of it.

The manager of this camp, who does not want the name of this camp to be mentioned due to potential obstacles from the Welfare Organization, has been sober for 37 years and now intends to help people like himself by establishing this place.

He says that often the people who seek treatment for addiction are from the weaker class of society: “Here, often the weaker class of society comes, who may not have any income; but we accept some who have no income and are willing to change for free.”

This manager, who does not want his name to be revealed, considers the first condition for quitting addiction to be one’s own desire: “Quitting addiction has nothing to do with being wealthy or not. An addicted person cannot be helped even by God unless they themselves have the desire to quit. I did not want to quit for 37 years, but when I finally wanted to, I was able to do it and it happened. The first condition for quitting is the desire.”

He believes the most important problem currently is that after leaving, no action is taken to create employment for individuals: “A patient stays here for a month, but when they leave, they have no job and no one supports them. When they take in addicts, they hospitalize them, but when they release them, they don’t ask where they will go and what they will do. The patient is forced to go out and start using drugs again due to poverty and misery.”

He mentions his activities in relation to unauthorized camps and states that they will not take responsibility for any potential incidents: “In this area, there are only two licensed addiction camps from the Welfare Organization and three centers that operate without a license. If anything happens, they quickly shut down the camp. Even drugs can be found in these places.”

The manager of this camp, while constantly checking the surveillance cameras, makes the following statement about the incident that occurred at Langroud Camp: “I have been in this camp for 20 years and we have a program in place. We have a dishwasher, a guard, a watchman, and those who monitor all the rooms through the surveillance cameras. At night, we also have a watchman who oversees the entire camp through the cameras. In my opinion, the officials at Langroud Camp have been negligent. At night, there is only one person in the yard and one person checking the cameras. We have people here who are thieves and have a criminal record, and I think it’s possible that the suspect who was previously there was introduced to defend the camp manager. I don’t know, maybe that manager was wealthy.”

He points out that there are many addicts in this neighborhood and says, “Currently, we have 60 patients who can hardly afford to pay the full cost. Usually, they pay between one to one and a half million. We didn’t establish this place for income, we did it to help our friends.”

This camp manager criticizes the performance of the Welfare Organization towards addiction camps: “Instead of helping the camps, Welfare creates obstacles. In our 20 years of activity, not once has an inspector told us to keep up the good work. Whenever an inspector comes, they even criticize the color of the walls and do nothing. They don’t even give any guidance on how to fix mistakes.”

What research on two addiction camps in the northern and southern parts of Tehran shows is that the access of addicted patients to proper treatment and services is highly related to their socio-economic status. However, the presence or absence of financial means cannot guarantee that individuals will not have a desire to use drugs. On the other hand, what is important is the operation of these addiction camps, which do not have any licenses and in case of similar incidents to what happened in Langroud, no one will be held accountable.