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Tous Taha Masabi

In 1951 (1330 in the Persian calendar), the United Nations Central Control Committee officially accused Iran of trafficking in opium. The committee declared that Iran had a major role in the international drug addiction problem and that last year, 300 tons of opium had gone missing in Iran, which was unprecedented on a global level. Two years prior, during the International Conference on Drug Control in Ankara, when quotas were set for producing countries to allocate for medical purposes and gradual treatment of addicts, 75% of this global quota belonged to Iran and Turkey. It is clear that a problem at this level must have deep-rooted societal and cultural causes. Before the Safavid period, opium use in Iran was very limited and restricted to certain wealthy and aristocratic classes. However, for reasons that require further research and investigation, opium consumption increased almost simultaneously with the start of intense and bloody political-religious conflicts between Iran and the Ottoman Empire. In Iran, both the Safavid court and

Jean Chardin, the famous travel writer, writes in his five-volume book about Safavid Iran: “The consumption of opium in Iran is actually the result of a general tendency, and it is difficult to find one person out of ten who is not affected by this habit.” The figure that Chardin presents is exaggerated, but nevertheless, addiction to opium and cocaine had become a serious issue in Iranian society at that time. One of the points mentioned in many travelogues and narratives is the description of the people who came to opium dens. They were tired, depressed, and wandering individuals who sought refuge in this drug for brief moments of happiness, only to be plunged back into paralyzing depression after a short time. Chardin writes: “Contrary to reality and the true quality of the state created by opium use, Iranians believe that the state it creates is a state of ecstasy and that there is a supernatural and divine aspect to this ecstasy.” During the Safavid era

During the Qajar era, the problem of addiction in Iran spread dangerously. During the Safavid era, the cultivation of opium was for domestic needs, but during the Qajar era and from the second half of the nineteenth century, with Iran’s integration into the global economy and the decline of silk production and exports, the cultivation of opium as a profitable export product became a focus. With Iran’s transition from a subsistence economy to a commercial economy, the income of rural villagers, who were at the brink of poverty, increased to some extent, as described by the traveler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. Unfortunately, most villagers did not choose any other means to benefit from this increase in income except for opium. After a few years, the demand for opium in the global market decreased and the vast lands that were used for opium cultivation were allocated for domestic consumption. In the last years of the Qajar rule, between 1300 and 1302, according to

After the Constitutional Revolution, the constitutionalists, who recognized addiction as one of the main problems of the country, approved the first written law on drugs in Iran in the National Consultative Assembly on February 22, 1911. According to this law, titled the Opium Restriction Law, ration cards were issued for addicts and a tax was imposed on their opium consumption. Addicts were given a seven-year grace period to quit their addiction. This law turned the government into the main distributor of opium, to the extent that in 1926, approximately eight percent of the government’s total income came from opium sales. (Modini, 2011) This law not only did not reduce opium consumption, but also led to the rise of illegal production and sales of opium.

During the early years of Reza Shah’s reign, the second law related to drugs, called the “State Monopoly Law of Opium,” was passed in 1307. Prior to that, in 1304, the first steps were taken to recognize certain actions related to drugs as crimes. Drug use was considered a crime and punishments of eight days to three months of imprisonment or fines ranging from ten to fifty tomans were imposed. According to the 1307 law, the cultivation of poppy was only allowed with the permission of the government. A ten-year plan was also developed to combat addiction, but it had no significant results. The State Monopoly Law of Opium was passed as a result of international pressure and in response to a report by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which explicitly named the Iranian government as the main cause of corruption, addiction, and the main supplier of opium to addicts in other parts of the world. Surprisingly, after the passage of

The severity of the disaster caused by the spread of addiction, which for example resulted in the deaths of 100,000 people and leaving 50,000 children orphaned each year, and 5,000 annual suicides due to opium addiction, led to the formation of a popular organization called the “Society for the Fight Against Opium and Alcohol” in 1322. This society, which had various committees and branches in 60 cities across the country, took effective actions against addiction and opium for the first time and created a widespread social and cultural movement towards its goals. Research by the society showed that only 10% of the opium produced in the country was exported, and the government’s income from opium was only 37 million rials annually. The society emphasized in its promotional activities that this amount was insignificant compared to the devastating effects of addiction. The society had a strong lobby in the parliament and established the first addiction treatment center and hospital, as well as providing

After the 1957 revolution, a absolutist and ideological view dominated the subject of dealing with drugs and addiction. This view evaluated addiction as a phenomenon created by the conspiracies of colonial powers. The belief was that with the acquisition of political independence and the intensity of revolutionary action, the problem of addiction and drugs would quickly disappear from Iranian society. This approach was somewhat influenced by the experiences of some revolutionary countries such as China and Cuba, which were known for their harsh measures against the phenomenon of addiction. With the approval of the bill “Strengthening the Punishment of Drug Offenders” in April 1959, the responsibility was handed over to the revolutionary court and Sadegh Khalkhali, and hundreds of people were executed in a short period of time. In the years 1958 and 1959, about 23,000 people were arrested in connection with drugs, which accounted for about 9% of the total number of arrests during the period of 135

In general, the history of a hundred years of political and legal confrontation with drugs, which begins after the Constitutional Revolution, shows more than anything else the failure of governments and their various policies. It seems that above all, we must reflect on the fact that why Iranian society during the Safavid and Qajar periods fell into such traps that later, despite various policies and measures, could not be freed from them. What were the susceptible factors and conditions in the social and cultural life of Iranian society at that time that made it a haven for such drugs and their derivatives? The answer to this important question requires independent and detailed research.