ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has accused actors in the Iraqi government of benefiting from an expanding drug trade and suggested that economic and political motives may be hindering measures to combat the scourge. Last Thursday, Sadr received an inquiry from one of his followers asking how to stop the “exponential spread of drug trade, dealing and use” in Iraq, and how to “limit the psychological, social and security hazards” amid a “weak government and popular response.” In his response, which surfaced online on Friday, Sadr stated: “The problem is that unfortunately, there are beneficiaries of the drug money and trade from within the government and beyond.” He added that the lax response “may be due to political if not economic” motivations. The drug trade, especially Captagon, is a growing concern in the Middle East, including Iraq. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) highlighted the escalating drug crisis in its 2024 report, revealing a staggering 3,380 percent increase in Captagon seizures in Iraq from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 alone, over 4.1 tons of Captagon tablets were seized, the report noted, adding that the drugs trafficked in Iraq also include opium, heroin, hashish, and methamphetamine. UNODC cautioned that Iraq “is at risk of becoming a key node in the drug trafficking ecosystem spanning Southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe.” It connects trafficking routes carrying opiates from Afghanistan to Europe, and routes through the Arabian Peninsula to Eastern Africa. The UN organization further noted that drug trafficking is exacerbated by Iraqi armed groups whose “cross-border ties and economic interests contribute to cross-border trafficking,” adding that the country’s “recent history of armed conflict and corruption has worsened trafficking conditions.” Syria, under fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad, was a major source for the Captagon trade. The drug was one of the power cards used by the Assad regime for political leverage and his brother Maher is believed to have been largely behind the illegal business. With the collapse of his rule, observers have urged the international community to make ending the Captagon trade among the prerequisites for providing relief to the new Syria leadership. The Iraqi government has said it will fight the drug trade with the same determination that it combats terrorism.
