Iran is preparing to restart legal cultivation of opium poppies for the first time in more than four decades, as the country faces a growing shortage of raw materials for essential medicines, the Financial Times has reported.
The move follows a dramatic collapse in supply from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s 2022 ban on poppy cultivation. Iranian manufacturers of morphine, codeine, and other opioids had long relied on seizures of Afghan narcotics, but seizures have fallen from 750 tonnes in 2021 to just 200 tonnes last year, according to official estimates.
Mohammad Hashemi, spokesperson for Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, told the Financial Times that the government views legal cultivation as the only sustainable solution. “Without legal cultivation or controlled imports, the country may face problems in securing vital medicines such as morphine, codeine and pethidine,” he said.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has approved the health ministry’s proposal, with officials citing difficulties importing opium due to US sanctions. While medicines are technically exempt, banking restrictions often delay or block transactions. Iran requires roughly 500 tonnes of opium annually for pharmaceutical use.
Experts note that Iran’s climate is well-suited to poppy cultivation. Saeed Sefatian, a former director-general at Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters, said the plan could not only secure domestic needs but also pave the way for regulated exports under UN oversight. “The world needs morphine,” he argued.
The decision comes against a backdrop of regional upheaval. While Afghanistan’s ban has cut off supplies to Iran, neighboring Pakistan has seen a surge in illicit cultivation, fueling militant groups near the Afghan border.
Iran outlawed opium production after the 1979 revolution, ending a decade of state-run poppy farming under the Shah. Since then, the country has become a major transit route for smuggled Afghan drugs. Despite its hardline stance on trafficking—Amnesty International says more than half of Iran’s 850 executions last year were drug-related—addiction remains widespread. In 2015, government figures estimated 4.4 million Iranians were regular or recreational drug users.
Iranian officials also warn that rising global opium prices—up from $100 per kilo in Afghanistan before the ban to about $730 in mid-2024—combined with domestic inflation and currency pressures, are pushing poorer users toward synthetic drugs such as methamphetamines.
Authorities say legal poppy cultivation will begin once necessary approvals are secured from the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board.
