Economic Sanctions Against Iran, and Drug Use in Tehran, Iran: A 2013 Pilot Study

This qualitative study was conducted in 2013 among male drug user patients referred to Drop-In Centers (n = 23) and Residential Treatment Centers (n = 25) in Tehran. The results show that when the price of drugs increases, some drug users tend to use cheaper drugs, which are more harmful, use more harmful routes of administration, such as injecting drugs, sharing needles, and make money illegally. Economic sanctions have threatened Iranian people's economic status since 2006 and have become more intense in 2010 and 2011. As an important consequence of these economic sanctions, the price of drugs, as well as other goods and services, have increased in Iran in recent years. Given these "big economic events," big changes in the patterns of drug use, and an increase in drug use-related harms, can be expected to occur in the near future.