Iran has opened the country's first state-run rehab and treatment center for addicts to alcohol, Tehran Times daily reported on Sunday.
The center was launched at Medical School of Tehran University "following an increase in alcohol use among Iranians," a physician at the center, Mohammad-Reza Sargolzaiee, was quoted as saying.
Non-governmental organizations have already opened centers for providing treatment services to the addicts but this is the first center which is established by the government to provide consultatory and treatment assistance for those suffering from alcohol addiction, an official said.
In February 2013, Iran's police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam said that there are about 200,000 people in Iran addicted to alcohol, according to the daily.
The law bans alcohol for Muslim citizens in Iran. Despite prohibition, there is still widespread alcohol use across the country.