A Commentary on Subsidization of Drug Treatment Services in Iran: A New Approach

Subsidization refers to a well-established policy to increase the purchase and use of products and services and promote their affordability for people in need (1). Most importantly, subsidization is the money paid by a governmental sector to help drug treatment services reduce costs; therefore, they can provide services at affordable and/or reasonable prices (1). A paper by Ahmadian Moghaddam et al. (1) about the role of subsidization in increasing drug treatment entry in Iran has been recently published in your journal. In our view, illicit drug use poses significant financial, psychological, andsocial costs to individualsand families. Therefore, subsidization may play a significant role in increasing treatment entry. Furthermore, Ahmadian Moghadam and colleagues have highlighted a novel issueandhowthe trend of subsidization of drugtreatment has been used for treating illicit drug use in Iran (1).