From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
.... on 26 June ... in Tehran ... 64 tons of drugs were destroyed in a bonfire. Speaking at the day's event, Ali Hashemi, secretary-general of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, said that proximity to the biggest opium producer [Afghanistan] is the main problem confronting Iran, IRNA reported. He predicted that it would take a full 10 years to destroy drug-production facilities there."You have drug groups like guerrilla forces. They shoot heavily with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and Kalashnikovs."
Speaking at the same event, Hojatoleslam Qorban Ali Dori-Najafabadi, the state prosecutor-general, said that the country is threatened by a tidal wave of drugs that is even more dangerous than the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia six months earlier .... Drug Control Headquarters chief Hashemi discussed the country's counternarcotics campaign in late May. He said that in the space of one year, nearly 300 tons of drugs were seized, "Iran" reported on 23 May. This included 11 tons of morphine, five tons of heroin, and 182 tons of opium. Nearly 200,000 people were arrested for drug-related offenses.
Hashemi went on to say that Iran is bearing the main expense for protecting Europe from drugs. He added that during a recent trip he told his European counterparts that Iran needs night-vision equipment for helicopters, electronic eavesdropping devices, X-ray equipment, and similar tools, but it has not gotten them yet.
The head of the UNODC office in Tehran, Roberto Arbitro, noted the level of violence. "You have drug groups like guerrilla forces," he said in the 16 June issue of "The Times" of London. "They shoot heavily with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and Kalashnikovs." It is not unusual, therefore, that the Iranian military has played a big part in confronting traffickers. Brigadier General Hamid Gorizan, who commands the Mersad military base in the southeastern Kerman Province, discussed some of the armed forces' efforts in narcotics interdiction. He said the base was created in 1995 in order to counteract armed bands of traffickers, stop banditry, and in general terms, to restore a sense of security in the eastern part of the country, "Jomhuri-yi Islami" reported on 6 March.
Gorizan said the war on drugs exists on two levels. First, there is the erection of concrete barriers along the borders and in mountainous areas, as well as setting up 135 kilometers of barbed-wire obstacles in desert areas. He added that there are 630 kilometers of earthen barriers (berms) and 615 kilometers of canals. Furthermore, the Mersad base has been improved, and smaller bases were established in Sistan va Baluchistan Province, South Khorasan Province, and Kerman Province. "Based on these measures, I think there will be no safe point for traffickers throughout the entire east of the country," he said. ....
The Iranian narcotics-seizure rates are impressive, but UN officials told "RFE/RL Iran Report" that this is only 10-15 percent of the amount that enters the country. They estimated, furthermore, that 40 percent of the narcotics stays in Iran while the remaining 60 percent ends up in Iraq, Turkey, the Caucasus, and eventually Europe. ....
Drug Control Headquarters chief Hashemi ... said that number of known addicts is 2.5 million-3.35 million, "Iran" reported on 4 July. He noted that the number of addiction-related arrests has increased from 78,000 in 1987 to 431,430 in 2004. The amount of seizures during the same period is 10 times higher. He therefore asked, "Do these figures not point to an increase in demand?" He also noted the rise in prices for opium and heroin.
The prevalence of intravenous drug use by addicts has contributed to a climbing rate of HIV/AIDS. The UNODC report estimates that some 15,000 Iranians are infected with HIV/AIDS, and 65-75 percent of them got it by sharing needles. ....
Opiates are not the only drugs that Iran must confront. According to the UNODC report, 8 percent of 90 countries it surveyed said cannabis originating in Iran is a problem. After Morocco, however, Afghanistan and Pakistan were cited as the top sources. Iran seized 77 tons of resin in 2003. Drug Control Headquarters chief Hashemi said in the 23 May "Iran" that 82 tons of hashish and nearly 16 tons of other drugs were seized in the past year.
Iranians also are abusing synthetic drugs, such as crystal methamphetamine (known as "sisheh") and ecstasy ("qorsha-yi shadi-avar"). These drugs are becoming a serious problem, according to a mid-June report by Radio Farda. Tehran Medical Sciences University's Dr. Azarkhash Makari reminded Radio Farda's listeners that just because the drugs come in the form of pills they are not made in a real pharmaceutical factory. He said the use of ecstasy is more common in Iran than the use of crystal methamphetamine but that the latter drug is more addictive and more dangerous. ..... 
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