Iran facing drug abuse crisis among women

Iran is facing a female drug-abuse crisis as the number of young, well-off and well-educated women using substances continues to rise.

At least six million of Iran's 77.7 million population have drug related problems, according to official reports.

And addiction, especially to Shisheh - a high-purity form of crystalline methamphetamine - is increasingly spreading across all social classes.

The substance has become the second most popular drug after opium among young people seeking an escape from social and economic hardship, the Financial Times reports.

Opium smoking in Iran dates back to at least the 17th century, and the the country has one of the highest rates of opiate addiction in the world.

This has been blamed on the country being a popular trafficking route for dealers transporting drugs from Afghanistan to Europe.

Iran's problem was first exposed in 2011, according to Zahra Bonianian, an adviser to the state-run Drug Control Headquarters for women and family affairs.

Speaking to the Financial Times, she said: 'It was when we realised that the number of married female addicts was going up, the age of addiction going down while the educational level [of addicts] was high.'

She believes the government needs to place higher focus on protecting women from becoming addicts.

The rise in drug abuse has been attributed to the social development that Iran has experienced as a result of the internet, social media and globalisation.

A new generation of young adults reject a strict Islamic way of life which many of their parents conformed to - instead emulating modern behavioural norms of the West.

In recent years, marriage and birth rates in Iran have fallen while the number of divorces is on the rise.

At the same time, the Islamic government has improved female access to higher education, and women now account for more than 60 per cent of graduates.

But many find themselves caught between a growing sense of freedom and increasing educational opportunities - and the conservative values of older generations.

Amir-Hossein Yazdani, a professor of psychology, said: 'Girls and boys under 25 years old largely enjoy equal freedom in terms of social and educational activities, but girls have a more gloomy perspective, [seeing] more responsibilities ahead.'

He said highly educated girls 'do not enjoy equal job opportunities, or they feel under pressure to behave like a traditional woman - this is fanning fresh tendencies to addiction'.

A woman called Mahsa is typical of this trend. After graduating from a respected high school she was forced to marry at 18.

She has since become divorced and took solace in taking drugs. Despite studying psychology at university she ended up in a Tehran addiction treatment centre last year with a drug habit costing her £24 a day.

The Iranian government is said to be extremely concerned by the growing levels of drug addiction.

The latest official figures suggest the number of female addicts has nearly doubled since in the last eight years.

Women now make up 9.3 per cent of Iranians affected. More than 50 per cent of addicted women used drugs for the first time between the ages of 15 and 19.

Some experts argue this is because women have been seen as a lower priority than men because they make up fewer than ten per cent of Iran’s addicts.

Daily Mail Online