[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[cyrus]

Iran Opium Addicts Find Supplies Despite Earthquake

Sat January 3, 2004 09:09 AM ET

By Christian Oliver
BAM, Iran (Reuters) - Power supplies are erratic, telephones still unreliable and most services disrupted but the flow of opium into the earthquake-hit city of Bam has carried on unabated, several residents said Saturday.

A city in the corridor of illegal drug trafficking between Afghanistan and Europe, Bam is home for many of an estimated two million drug addicts in Iran, according to government officials.

Despite the quake devastation, several people said there was no trouble finding cheap supplies. "People ask us whether we would like to be sent to another city, but I tell them, 'I would rather stay here and smoke,"' a man named Hossein told Reuters, deeply inhaling from a cigarette inside a makeshift Bam relief tent.

Hossein, running his fingers through his black beard while sitting cross-legged, said the ancient Silk Road city was still awash with opium even though almost every other service was severed by the December 26 quake that killed at least 30,000.

If anything, Hossein and others said, the chaos and flood of foreign aid and rescue workers to Bam after one of the worst disasters in decades had ironically improved the supply from traffickers who often use camels to carry their booty.

He explained police guarding Iran's frontiers to Afghanistan and Pakistan had been redeployed to Bam to prevent looting -- meaning drug supply routes from the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan were no longer so closely patrolled.

"Supply is very easy," said Hossein, tapping out the ash from his cigarette. "I would say someone in every third tent here is an opium smoker."

Opium and heroin from Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer, as well as Pakistan flood across Iran's porous eastern borders. Much of the world's opium seizures are made in Iran, where drugs cost only a fraction of their price in the West.

Officials acknowledge they only intercept a small proportion of the thousands of tonnes of drugs that pass through Iran each year. The transit has created a domestic market. Officials say about two million in a nation of 66 million are addicted.

Hossein's wife said the poppy seed was a key element in the local culture.

"If someone comes to your home and you do not offer them a dish of opium on charcoal then they assume you are uncivilised," she said, prompting Hossein to quickly offer to fire up a fresh batch.

Several others confirmed Hossein's views, even though addicts are generally reluctant to admit their habit.

White-bearded Mohammad Emamifar, in a tent in another part of Bam, said he did not use opium but said the problem was widespread and the earthquake had not changed that at all.

"The drug culture is very bad," he said. "But really the government must set up clinics to help these people."

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

[TeachESL]

IF there had been a bomb test, what better place to do it than one where thousands of addicts live! I'm being sarcastic, of course.

[cyrus]

In order to destroy Iran Youth Resistance against Islamic Clerical Regime, the clerics Mafia Network (Khameni, Rafsanjani....) by section of revolutionary Guard are controlling and providing cheap opium in the streets of Iran.

[TeachESL]

This is so difficult to fathom - that a govt. would WANT to see drug addiction in its midst. No wonder that the regime doesn't want any more humanitarian aid from the U.S. - they might see this. Well, once this regime is toppled (G-d willing, very soon), then clinics will have to be set up to cure these people from this addiction.

[redemption]

[Spenta]

Heroin is cheaper than a bottle of western whickey, beer or vodka. In some places heroin is even cheaper than cigarets.

The British didn't just use opium in China they also did so in Iran in he 19th century, under the corrupt Qajar kings, the country was paralysed with superstition and opium, and most of the people were opium addicts.

It wasn't until Reza Shah the Great (the Shah's father) took over that the first thing he did was to make opium illegal. After decades under the Pahlavis, what was once totally common and widespread all throughout Iran in terms of opium addiction had been largely eradicated thanks to the many efforts of the Pahlavis.

But with the ousting of the Shah by the west, and the return of the unholy alliance of the British and the Mullah$, once again their preferred mode of control with drug addiction was back.

The Mullah$ ban alcohol, music, dancing, fun, joy, enterntainment, socialising, and run nothing but pictures of dead Plaestinians on TV alongside depressing religious sermons to create the conditions that drive their lucrative drug market. The Mullah$ are behind all the opium and drug addiction in Iran. The Supreme Leader Khamenei himself is a well known opium addict, and everyone in Iran knows that he is and addict. The Mullah$ create the conditions that drive addiction, and reap the profits. Young people are left with only 3 options, escape the country as many do, oppose the Mullah$ and demand your rights and get arrested, tortured and killed, or become a drug addict. Many opt for drugs. The regime estimates that there are 2 million hardcore addicts, but acknowledge there are 10 million daily users. That is one out of every 7 people is a daily user of drugs!

[TeachESL]

I am making it my goal to see to that this information is gotten out to the general public by forwarding it to the media, especially Fox News! Once the earthquake disappears from the people's consciousness, so will all discussin about Iran.

[redemption]