Iran to open 150 alcohol treatment centers
Iran plans to open 150 alcohol treatment centers, a health ministry official said on Monday, in an acknowledgement of the scale of abuse in a country where drinking is illegal, AFP reports.
The head of the ministry's drug abuse department, Dr Alireza Norouzi, told the ISNA news agency that the 150 day centers would provide special settings and educational courses to help people give up alcohol.
Six of the centers to be opened by March 2016 would also provide in-patient detoxification, Norouzi said.
Iran opened its first detoxification center in Tehran in late 2013. Authorities estimate that as many as 200,000 Iranians have an alcohol problem despite the ban on drinking in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979.