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Core Topics => In the Media => Topic started by: clinton on November 08, 2015, 06:34:29 AM

Title: iran may legalize opium
Post by: clinton on November 08, 2015, 06:34:29 AM
http://extract.suntimes.com/news/10/153/6145/will-iran-legalize-marijuana-opium

Iran’s Expediency Council may be moving toward marijuana and opium legalization.

It might seem counterintuitive to outsiders, many of whom see Iran as an uber conservative, religious regime, but the country might be opening up to the idea of legalizing marijuana and opium, as reported by The Independent.

“Drug policy is one of the areas of debate in which the Islamic Republic has produced some interesting, yet paradoxical, policies,” writes Maziyar Ghiabi, DPhil Candidate in Politics and Wellcome Trust Scholar in Society & Ethics at University of Oxford.

Iran has a major drug addiction problem. Official figures put the number of addicts around 2 million, although unofficial figures put the number as high as 5 or 6 million. Iran has very strict penalties for illegal drug trafficking that include the death penalty.

However, the country also has very progressive policies toward drug addiction, including distribution of clean needles to injecting drug users, methadone substitution programs and a “vast system” of treatment for drug addiction.

Iran’s Expediency Council plays a major role in national drug policy, and Saeed Sefatian, a leading Iranian official and head of the group working on reducing drug demand in the Expediency Council, recently suggested reintroducing state supervision of poppy and cannabis cultivation and legalizing cannabis and opium under specific circumstances, according to Ghiabi.

More from Maziyar Ghiabi:

"Given that cannabis and opium are both indigenous plants that have had a historical presence in Iran, they are also a good place to start a new indigenous approach to drug control. The way this new strategy towards drug use is taking shape is that of a comprehensive discussion among Iran’s drug policy, addiction, anti-narcotics and social policy experts through the Expediency Council, which is the institution that has the power to carry out this change."
Title: Re: iran may legalize opium
Post by: Zoops on November 09, 2015, 02:19:12 AM
I like their approach that opium and Cannabis should be legal because they represent a part of their cultural heritage. What do Americans claim? Alcohol.

Title: Re: iran may legalize opium
Post by: Jega on November 09, 2015, 03:02:52 AM
Alcohol.

Yes. And Tobacco, and we appropriated caffeine.

I modified your post by my mistake, you did nothing wrong. I'm working to fix it.

Edit: Big sorry zoops.
Title: Re: iran may legalize opium
Post by: Zoops on November 09, 2015, 05:30:36 AM
Of course! How could I forget tobacco. It's native to North America! Derpa derp.
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