According to information from the Ministry of Health, The Islamic Republic of Iran plans to open 150 alcohol treatment centers. The announcement signifies an acknowledgement of the scale of alcohol-related problems in Iran – a country where alcohol use is illegal. The announced 150 day centers will provide special environments along with educational courses to help people with alcohol use disorders to overcome their disease. Six of the facilities to be opened by March 2016 will also provide in-patient detoxification.
Authorities estimate that as many as 200,000 Iranians have an alcohol problem despite alcohol prohibition effective since the Islamic revolution of 1979, with only an exception for the country’s Christian minority, which is allowed to produce wine for use in mass.
But alcohol is widely produced illegally. It is also smuggled in from neighbouring countries, particularly Turkey and Kurdish parts of Iraq.
For further reading, the WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol, 2014
