Prevention and Awareness Raising

Prevention of drug use could be carried out before ever using drugs as primary prevention or as secondary prevention for individuals using drugs, but still not in the state of dependence. Tertiary prevention as the prevention of hazards of drug use beside treatment and rehabilitation is usually approached distinctly.

There is no definite agreement on the aetiology of drug use. A general consensus considers drug use as a multifactor phenomenon. Various individual, familial and socio-cultural factors contribute to its emergence. Studies on the aetiology of drug use have significance in planning prevention activities.

Social integration is one of the important protective factors against drug use. Level of knowledge and the attitude together with social norms and perceptions and the individual perception of capabilities contribute to the motivation, which is one of the strongest predictors of enacting or withholding a certain behaviour including drug use. Prevention activities therefore encompass a spectrum of different strategies evading drug use. Main strategies include:

• Awareness raising and information dissemination on hazards of drug use;
• Creating a cultural context discouraging drug use and related risky behaviours;
• Enhancing life skills;
• Promotion of healthy and alternative behaviours and life styles other than drug use and related risky behaviours;
• Promotion of mental health and healthy relationships protective of drug use;
• Modification of attitudes, motivation and behaviour.

Beside the awareness raising and media campaigns for the general public, prevention activities are carried out in different settings like: the education system, work place, community and prisons.

Prevention through media involves provision of information on drug use together with its effects and consequences, family education on healthy relationships, promotion of healthy life styles, mental health and recreational activities and strengthening of adaptive life skills. Media should contribute to change existing attitudes favouring drug use. Media can also play a role in providing information on available treatment of drug use and introduce contact addresses of counselling and treatment centres. They should aid in the destigmatisation of drug users as patients in contrast to drug use, which they discourage. Giving explicit messages could be part of all these activities. However implicit messages -if designed intelligent- are more long lasting and successful and contribute more effectively to real changes in attitude, motivation and behaviour.

The process of up scaling prevention activities encompasses advocacy among stakeholders; strategic coordinated planning and capacity building.

Policies on drug prevention in Iran

The Iranian Government considers prevention of social harms as one of top priorities. Too many young people are engaging in drug use; more over the pattern of drug use is demonstrating a change in trend towards the use of synthetic drugs with a lower inhibition threshold compared to the use of narcotics- the classic drugs of abuse in the country. Areas of precedence in prevention in the programmes of the Iranian Drug Control HQs constitute of: the family, schools, work paces and the community.

The article 97 of the fourth Iranian developmental programme requires the government to compile a comprehensive programme on control and reduction of social Harms with special focus on addiction to prevent and reduce social harm with the following axes:

1.      Enhancement of the Mental Health levels, Expansion of social work services, fortification of pillars of the family and empowerment of vulnerable groups and individuals;

2.      Deployment of cheerful, succulent, hopeful, social trusting, deepening of religious values and social norms spirits;

3.       Identification of social problem creating and vulnerability issues in cities and their outskirts and focusing on social support, provision of health care, social work services, legal and social counseling and supported employment programmes utilizing intersectoral cooperation and social harms management strategies in the mentioned areas;

4.      Primary prevention of social harms through reform in curricula of the public education system, foreseeing social education and advancement of life skills.

Previous activities of UNODC Iran on prevention of drug use

Awareness Raising

The UNODC Office has acted proactively since its establishment in Iran on initiatives to raise awareness and advocacy on Drug issues in the country. These include:

• Distribution of 150,000 awareness brochures informing passengers travelling to the Arab States of Persian Gulf about the regulations set in these states for possession of any type of psychotropic substances (licit and illicit) during their travels to travel agencies and international airports
• Production of fifteen short television spots with drug abuse prevention messages for the youth target groups broadcasted by Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in Iran;
• Production of Drug abuse prevention posters and display into the advertisement spaces allocated to DCHQ by Tehran Metro Company in order to present Drug abuse prevention material.
• Sponsorship of film festivals and street theatre performances
• Production and distribution of "Sports not Drugs" t-shirts through NGOs
• 20 large " Sports no Drugs" billboards in Tehran for a period of three months
• "Sports no Drugs" billboards on the backside of 20 public buses from Tehran Municipality Bus Company for a period of two months,
• "Sports, not drugs" t-shirts and sports bags distributed on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking
• on  the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking: Football, basket ball competitions in different provinces, women parading with "Sports not Drugs", Mountain climbing for women,
• Design, production and distribution throughout the country of 1000 drug awareness posters
• Cultural drug prevention exhibition
• Through local NGOs of primary drug prevention activities by sponsoring summer sport related programmes for the youth in deprived areas of Tehran and Sistan Baluchestan Province
• Prevention campaign by the use of both public awareness workshops and advertisements in the deprived and high-risk area of Khak Sefid, Tehran
• The local branch of AFTAB implemented a chess tournament and other social recreational activities for the local youth and adolescents
• Omidhaye Farda Club (Future Hopes), Karaj, Theran: Under the theme" Sports not drugs" this youth NGO implemented sports activities including mountain climbing, football and basketball tournaments for the youth of Karaj.
• The Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ) secretariat created an information website on drug demand reduction including a data base on available resources in drug demand reduction in Farsi.
• Technical team designing and establishment of website of prevention and treatment of substance use
• The International Centre for Society and Culture, Tehran, organised and implemented the first short film festival on drugs and drug abuse.
• The Drug Control Community NGO organised a street photography exhibition called "MANG" (Fuddled) in crowded areas especially in Tehran's subway stations

Prevention of Drug Abuse pre se- Main strategies include: Creating a cultural context discouraging drug use and related risky behaviours; Enhancing life skills, so that drug use is not considered as a solution to problems; Promotion of healthy and alternative behaviours and life styles other than drug use and related risky behaviours; Promotion of mental health and healthy relationships protective of drug use; and finally modification of attitudes, motivation and behaviour in youth. Activities conducted with various stakeholders include:

• Preparation of an advanced package of training for demand reduction specialists on awareness campaigns
• Implementation of a training workshop on Public Education on substance abuse
• Organisation and implementation of a training workshop and preparation of training material for mass media directors
• Preparation of a training package and implementation of a training workshop on Life skills Training for trainers of guidance schools and evaluate its effectiveness through a pilot in selected schools
• Preparation and compilation of a guideline for "Drug Use Prevention in the Work Place"
• Development of a comprehensive drug education program for junior high students
• Identifying students at risk of substance abuse and capacity building - first phase
• Implementation of face to face drug abuse prevention training in small industrial units
• Implementation of "Health Promoting Schools" initiative in Secondary Schools throughout I. R. of Iran.
• Preparation of a training package on drug abuse prevention in communities with focus on protective factors
• Organisation and implementation of training on Teaching Drug use prevention for rural areas of the province of Rasht
• Organisation and implementation of training on Informing and teaching prevention of addiction for factory workers of the industrial city of Rasht
• Prevention workshop for prevention of drug abuse among street children in Tehran and Bam
• Prevention education to mothers of 8- 12 years old
• Training workshop for journalists
• In cooperation with the M. of Education UNODC launched and implemented a national art competition for middle school children on the subject of "Family and Addiction". The best artworks were selected and displayed during an ad hoc exhibition opened in Teheran as part of the events marking the international day against drug abuse. As a follow up to this activity and under a separate project budget (Operational Activities), the project commissioned the Prison Organisation with the production of small kelim rugs with the best artworks displayed;
• UNODC signed an agreement with the Iranian Sports Organisation regarding the launching of several joint events targeting the youth. As a first activity in line with the logo "Sports, Not Drugs" theme the agreement produced and distributed through primary and secondary schools posters with the five Iranians Sydney Olympic medallists.  Secondly, the agreement commissioned to the Iranian Prisons organisation the making of sports equipment (footballs, T-shirts, etc.) for distribution to middle and high schools in deprived areas throughout I.R. of Iran. Finally, a calendar of sports events for the Iranian youth including cycling competitions, mountain climbing meeting, football tournaments, etc. was agreed and implemented
• Implementation of awareness seminars on "Prevention of drug use in the work place" together with the Drug control community NGO
• Training on participative planning methodologies - Operational Oriented Project Planning methodology (OOPP) in different provinces after training of trainers in Iran and abroad.