NEEDLES FOR PRISONERS, AND OTHER DRUG UPDATES FROM IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUBAI 001452

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV SNAR SOCI IR
SUBJECT: NEEDLES FOR PRISONERS, AND OTHER DRUG UPDATES FROM IRAN

REF: A) 04 DUBAI 5089; B) DUBAI 528

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CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L Davis, Consul General, Dubai, UAE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



1.(C) Summary: Iran's Judiciary Chief approved a new program to
provide needles in certain prisons to try to stem the spread of
HIV/AIDS. In doing so, Iran is admitting that there are drugs in
prisons. The new mayor of Tehran is trying to move addicts off
the streets and into designated prisons called "boot camps." No
change in Iran's drug policy or cooperation with U.S.
universities on drug addiction programs has been noted to date
under the new administration. End summary

Needles for prisoners
--------------

2.(C) According to press reports citing Deputy head of State
Prisons Organization for Health and Rehabilitation Parviz
Afshar, Iranian prisons will institute a new program of
supplying needles in 10 prisons in the new year (i.e. starting
March 21.) A senior official with the Iranian National Center
for Addiction Studies confirmed the report to PolEconChief,
saying Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Shahrudi gave permission for the
needle-syringe program (NSP). (Note: NSP differs from needle
exchange in that NSP does not require old needles to be turned
in). The official commented that Shahrudi has been
forward-leaning in reforms related to drug addiction, though not
in other areas. He also said Afshar was a colleague and had done
good work on addiction programs for prisoners. (As noted Ref B,
it is not uncommon for 100-1000 inmates to share a single needle
in Iranian prisons.)

3.(C) The official said that out of 200 prisons in Iran, 20 have
anti-addiction programs with a total of 2000 participants.
Prisoners are tested for HIV/AIDS only voluntarily, and the test
results are not shared with prison authorities. HIV positive
prisoners can receive antiviral medicines from in-house clinics.


Condoms another issue
--------------

4.(C) According to the official, the decision to allow an NSP
was politically difficult, because it necessitated an admission
that there are drugs in prisons. On the other hand, condoms are
not available in prisons, other than in so-called "religious
meeting rooms," where conjugal visits are allowed between
married couples. (Note: according to the official, conjugal
visits used to be offered as a reward for good behavior but are
now considered a right for any married prisoner.) Distribution
of condoms anywhere other than in those rooms would be an
admission that homosexual behavior occurs in prison. The
official said that in Iran, dealing with issues related to drug
abuse is much easier than dealing with homosexuality, which
remains taboo.

Law Enforcement
--------------

5.(C) The official mentioned that Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer
Qalibaf is spearheading a campaign to get addicts off the
streets before the Iranian New Year holiday of Noruz on March

21. He said the municipality wants to set up new "bootcamps" to
house them but that funds are limited. The official described a
boot camp as a special prison housing only individuals
convicted of drug use. Normally, the sentence would be for a
few months, with drug addiction treatment included. He said
drug addicts would not be sent to boot camps extra-judicially.
The goal would be to take drug users out of the regular prison
system, thereby reducing overcrowding (and possibly the spread
of HIV/AIDS). The official said he and other health officials
working on addiction programs oppose the notion of boot camps,
because they are very expensive and drug addicts do not respond
well to forced treatment. He thought the money would be better
spent on voluntary outpatient clinic care and shelters.

6.(C) 2005 press reports (Ref A) indicated that the judiciary
wanted to change sentencing guidelines to reduce the number of
drug users, as opposed to drug distributors, in prison; this
official said no such changes have been introduced yet.

7.(C) Throughout Iran, there are both government and private
drug addiction clinics. Private clinics are allowed as a result
of a 1997 amendment legalizing drug treatment. The official
said people tend to trust the confidentiality and the quality of
private clinics more than government clinics, but in reality all

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doctors are bound by rules of patient confidentiality. They do
not release the names of their clients to the police unless
ordered to by a judge. According to the official, 200,000
people sought drug addiction treatment in 2005 at clinics in
Iran.

8.(C) When asked about corruption among law enforcement
officials, the Center for Addiction Studies official said some
of his patients have been soldiers who did their military
service in the police. They claimed that on occasion they were
told not to bother certain caravans. However, in the view of
the health official, corruption facilitating drug trafficking
occurs principally at low levels of authority. He said police
can arrest anyone suspected of using drugs without a warrant,
and then test their urine for drugs. That said, police do not
tend to make general sweeps but to target people in areas known
as congregating points for addicts. He believes the government
probably has at times used drug charges as an excuse to jail
political dissidents such as journalists but did not think this
occurred often.

No Change in Policy
--------------

9.(C) The official told us he had not seen any change in drug
policy under Ahmadinejad, but that he expects that the increased
presence of former IRGC in the new government will lead to a
greater emphasis on interdiction. He said the army would not
directly profit from any shifting of resources, since the
police, not the military, carries out interdiction. Relations
between the police and the military, however, tend to be close.
He also medical-related policies in Iran tend to be apolitical,
as bureaucrats in the Ministry of Health face problems from the
Majles if they ignore medical expert recommendations.

10.(C) When asked his assessment of the new secretary of the
Drug Control Headquarters, Fada-Hussein Maleki, he said it has
become clearer over time that Maleki is in favor of treatment as
well as interdiction policies (Ref A).

11.(C) He also remarked that to date, he has not heard of any
pressure from the government to cut university-to-university
ties with American institutions. The official, on his way to
meetings in the U.S., mentioned that if his workload permits it,
he is planning a year's fellowship next year at a U.S.
university.

General Update
--------------

12.(C) Drug addiction clinics in Iran are called "triangular
clinics," because their mandate includes counseling and
treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and drug
abuse. Clients for the triangular clinics outside of prisons in
Iran are generally in their 20's and 30's and include some
prostitutes, which the official says remains a very sensitive
subject. Young people still smoke opium, the traditional drug of
Iran, but also use other heroin-based drugs, including a
heroin-based form of crack, as well as other amphetamine and
synthetic drugs. The official said he has heard from patients
that some synthetic drugs are produced inside Iran.

13.(C) The average age of those beginning to inject drugs is 26,
higher than in many countries, according to the official,
because the typical road to injecting drugs is longer.
Typically, an Iranian intravenous drug user starts by smoking
opium (2-4 grams/day),then begins eating opium (4-5 grams/day),
then moves on to "shira" or opium juice, which is more
concentrated. He/she then switches to sniffing heroin and only
then progresses to shooting up.

14.(C) The official said that in many places in the south, such
as around Bam, up to 10% of the population is involved in the
drug trade. Opium continues to be treated in many places like
alcohol is in the west - parents use it, but tell their children
not to. It is sometimes smoked at social events like weddings.

15.(C) When asked about drug use among officials, the official
said it is known that former President Khatami's father used
opium but had no information about high-level officials. He
said there are rumors the Supreme Leader uses opium as a
painkiller for the injuries he sustained in an assassination
attempt but indicated he had no information to confirm it. He
mentioned there are private clinics that cater to society's
elite. The Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies has
trained about 500 Iranian doctors in addiction treatment, he
added; the center is also offering training to doctors in other
countries of the region.

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16.(C) When asked whether he thought programming via private
U.S.-based Farsi-language satellite channels on 12-step type
drug programs has been useful inside Iran, the health official
said he believed it was useful for some, but not for hard-core
users.

Comment
--------------

17.(C) This health official appears very dedicated to his
profession and basically apolitical -- apart from being pleased
that so far, the new government has not reduced support for drug
treatment programs in Iran. He is not involved in drug
interdiction, and so has little access to information on that
issue, other than what he hears anecdotally from colleagues or
patients.
DAVIS