History Commons^™

The Hidden Aspects Of A Century Of Substance Use Policymaking In Iran, James T. Bradford, Emran Razaghi, Mohammad Binazadeh, Rahimeh Negarandeh, Kaveh Khoshnood

Faculty Works

The use of substances, especially opiates, has been a longstanding and significant problem in Iran. In response, Iran has experimented with a wide range of policies including nonintervention, regulation, legalization, prohibition, and criminalization. Exploring Iran’s substance use policies suggests that the Iranian government has been more concerned with byproducts of policies such as financial revenue, promoting diplomacy, and maintaining power, rather than genuinely alleviating the substance trade and addiction. First, we explore how opium taxation was the core substance use policy before oil became the main source of government income. Second, we discuss how conflicts of power between the health …