Azerbaijan, Baku, July 15/Trend M. Moezzi
Iran's Chief Justice, Sadeq Larijani told participants at a conference that fifty percent of the country's prisoners are addicts.
Mr. Larijani, who was speaking at the National Conference on Research in the Criminal Justice System, Opportunities and Challenges, added that punishing addicts impacts their families and society, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
The head of Iran's judiciary said the subject of punishment has to be addressed legally and can't just be considered from a sociological and philosophical stance.
Despite the government's strong attempts to fight smuggling, drugs are easily available and cheap in Iran thanks to its shared borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan
A June 2011 report by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said 1.2 million Iranians are addicts. The Islamic Republic, said the report, "has one of the most severe addiction problems in the world."
About 2.26 percent of Iranians between the ages of 15 to 64 are dependent on opiates.