Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 25
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Commission on Combating Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking Ali Hasanov today received head of the UNICEF office in Azerbaijan Mark Hereward, his deputy Rashed Mustafa and UNICEF Regional Office senior advisor on AIDS, international expert Nina Ferencic in the Cabinet of Ministers, the State Commission said today.
Hasanov informed the guests about the situation with drug addiction in the country, the president's attention to the fight against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking and the measures carried out by the State Commission.
Hasanov stressed that the information on the cultivation of narcotic plants by the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, production and smuggling of drugs through the occupied territories, etc. is regularly sent to the UN relevant bodies.
Citing various reasons, Armenia does not allow UN experts to enter the occupied territories and related organizations do not take the necessary measures either.
While informing the guests about the routes through which drugs are transported from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan, Hasanov said that The Lancet medical journal, published in London, pointed to 300,000 drug addicts in Azerbaijan and that the number of users injecting drugs significantly differs from the official figures.
Hasanov said that Azerbaijan has repeatedly appealed to the relevant UN bodies to assist in determining the number of drug addicts.