Non-criminal policies to reduce drug demand in Iran

Substance dependence perpetrates damage on communities in individual, family, health, cultural, social, and economic aspects and leads to individual and social health disorders. In this regard, implementing reciprocal measures to deal with the prevalent use of drugs and psychotropic substances is of great necessity. Society, as a dynamic and progressive system, renders a myriad of opportunities and potentials that can be employed to counter substance abuse. Therefore, the present study aims to review and recognize the criteria and methods used in Iran for reducing harm and drug demand, and further establish order and ranks among these criteria and methods. For this purpose, a questionnaire was employed to evaluate the significance of methods. Items of this questionnaire include control strategies, avoidance strategies, family and education-oriented prevention strategies, and community-based strategies that reduce harm and drug demand, and so on. The subject population size was determined according to Cochran’s alpha and the questionnaires were distributed. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was presented for evaluating and ranking the employed methods. The results of this study show that criminal policy and oppressive tariffs are among the measures employed in the prevention of drug and psychotropic substance-related crimes in Iran. The results also indicate that implementing the two respective methods of control strategies and education-based prevention is more efficient in reducing harm and drug demand in Iran compared to the other methods.

Non-criminal policies to reduce drug demand in Iran Keywords:

Harm Reduction Methods , Drugs , Iran