Islam and Iran's post-revolution War on Drugs: A Durkheimian Analysis

By applying Durkheim's last opinion in the elementary forms of religious life, this paper seeks the rationale of the Iranian war on drugs policy in religious thoughts, not penological or criminological ones. It attempts to show that the war on drugs policy originates from an understanding that attributes evilness to such criminals to prevent the disintegration of Islamic society. This approach blurs the line between "preserving Islam" and the "Islamic society," and the repressive policies are consecrated to avoid social disintegration. Our study confirms Durkheim's attitude in which sacredness is highly contagious. Following the sanctity of preserving Islamic society from the profane of drug crimes, the application of specialized mechanisms for fighting drugs would be plausible.