The neighbor’s exports

Afghan opium is contributing to Iran’s drug problem — an issue which Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli is being surprisingly candid about. In recent pronouncements, he said 1.3 million Iranians, from a population of 75 million, are addicts. Drug seizures were up by 17 percent in the 11 months to February 2014 to 532 tons, Fazli has also revealed. He warned of increased use of synthetic drugs, with the police seizing 3,500 kilograms of crystal meth and discovering 375 laboratories in the Iranian year 2013–14. But while the seizures included meth alongside heroin and cocaine, opium amounted to 77 percent. Iran has followed several strategies to combat the problem. To crack down on smuggling, the authorities are building extensive security fences along the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Opium international The 2014 Afghan opium harvest is expected to match or exceed last year’s record, when 209,000 hectares of poppies yielded