The 11th session of the 83rd round of Congress 60 educational workshops, dedicated to travelers and companions, was held by Mr. Hossein Dezhakam, as the master of the ceremony and the guest speaker, and by Ms. Fariba serving as the secretary. The agenda was "Female Travelers," and it began on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, at 10:00 AM.
Hello, friends. I am Hossein, a traveler.
I hope you are all doing well. All of me is doing well too (laughs).
Today is Wednesday, January 1, 2025, and we are at the Academy Building. The time is 9:54 AM here in Tehran.
The topic for this week's session is "Female Travelers." This is the first time we’ve introduced this topic to talk about. We have women travelers here with us as well, and several of their assistants have joined us. I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to all of them.
Let me mention a few points before going to the topic. First, we have the Physicians’ Legion on Friday. Any members of Congress 60 or anyone with a doctoral degree in fields such as medicine, psychology, psychiatry, related humanities, counseling, or social work, as well as those with a master's degree or doctoral students, can participate in these Friday workshops. After three to four years, they will also receive a certificate.
Another point I want to address is that once again, video clips about me and my family are being circulated. No matter how often we request that this be reduced, after a short pause, it gradually starts again. If you care about us, I kindly ask you to stop doing this. Please do not make clips using photos of me or my family. I sincerely request you refrain from this. We are not in a position where you make such images or clips about us. Let us focus on our work and fulfill the responsibilities we have. I earnestly ask you to avoid such actions, including distributing photos or creating clips. Please stop this.
There was a conference held at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, which was organized very successfully. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members who managed and executed this event, including all the members from Isfahan. The responsibility was primarily carried out by Majid Salami and Babak, who worked hard and executed it excellently. This is a significant step forward for us on how an NGO focused on addiction treatment can collaborate effectively with a university of medical sciences.
Traditionally, groups focused on addicts or the treatment of substance users have had a strained relationship with medical sciences, almost like oil and water—they avoided each other or didn’t recognize each other’s legitimacy. I believe this is the first time, even globally, that such collaboration has occurred between an NGO and universities. This is an extremely positive development.
It has strengthened both our organization and the university. For medical universities interested in addiction studies, engaging directly with communities of substance users is essential to truly understand the issue. Ultimately, this collaboration benefits society as a whole, and it is both an honor and a significant achievement for us.
The research work that was done included my last lecture on cancer, which was reflected on the website in both Persian and English. The conference that took place was organized by the American Association for Cancer Researchers in collaboration with the Korean Association for Cancer Researchers in Seoul, and it was held around the first or second of November, about a month ago.
These two organizations jointly organized the conference, and I was invited to speak as a special guest. At the conference, I gave a lecture on cancer treatment, where usually everyone gets around 15 minutes or 10 minutes, but I was given half an hour. I spoke for half an hour about the DST method, the treatment conducted at Congress 60 and the experiments done on rats. And the certification that was issued. It was extremely important and very significant.
I don’t think anything like this has ever happened in the history of medicine, even in our own country. Both presidents of the congress, from the American and South Korean associations, were professors; one was a professor from Harvard, and the other was from Seoul National University in South Korea. They both signed the certificate, which I shared on the website. This is very significant because it shows that we can approach the scientific level and ensure that what we do is in line with science and knowledge. Moreover, the same congress is expected to be held in Poland next year, and we have already been invited to give a lecture.
These are important steps that we are taking together, and the events that are happening are the result of the help and support of all the members of Congress 60, as we work together to accomplish these tasks.
Today’s agenda is female travelers. You know, addiction was a taboo, and in some places, it still is. Society had a very negative view of it, although it has calmed down a bit recently. The approach now is to accept the addict as a patient, but it is still unclear what kind of illness or disease this is and how it can be treated. The only message was to say, 'Do not use drugs,' and if someone was an addict, they were looked at very negatively.
None of us, even the men, dared to say that we were users or had been users. It’s the same now, but in the past, it was much more severe. If someone was addressed to be an addict, it was as if they had committed a great crime, and everyone looked at them negatively. The negative perception was so strong that even we, who were users ourselves, looked at our fellow users negatively! For example, I apologize, we’d sit together and talk while smoking opium, and we’d say, 'Forget that guy, that addict!' We were insulting them even though we were sitting there ourselves, smoking opium. It was as if we didn’t see ourselves in the same light! This issue was so bad and heavy.
I remember this issue was such a taboo that some of the people who are now watchmen (Didebans) were terrified. I specifically remember Mr. Ali Khoddami, who had come from Sirjan, and nobody knew him in Tehran. We used to say to him: 'Wear a white shirt,' and he’d say: 'I don’t wear a white shirt.' We asked him why, and he said: 'Because people will think I’m an addict.' I’d tell him: 'Come on, you’re from Sirjan, who in Tehran knows you? Are you a president? Or a member of parliament? Or A movie star?!' He was terrified that people would find out, but later on, he went on TV and spoke in front of the camera.
The men who were users went on TV and spoke. Well, I spoke first and said: 'I used to be an addict, but I’m not anymore. So, what did I do?!' And that’s how it happened. However, there’s an important point here: those of us who went on TV and spoke had confidence because we trusted our treatment. We were certain that we wouldn't relapse—we were sure we had cured. If we weren’t certain, there’s no way we would have had the guts to stand in front of the camera, give interviews to newspapers, and have our photos taken, saying that we were once drug users. It was because our treatment had been effective, and we were sure we wouldn’t relapse. It was this confidence that gave us the courage to deliver this message.
I want to emphasize how terrifying, taboo, and dangerous this issue was for the men. In some areas, this might still be a sensitive issue. Now, imagine if a woman were to say, 'I’m a user!' How difficult would that be?
It reminds me of a joke from the time of Naser al-Din Shah, when all the craftsmen, especially from Russia, had cannons. In Iran, the king announced that the craftsmen should gather because they wanted to make a cannon. At that time, there were no craftsmen in the Qajar period, and later these industries emerged. A tin maker came forward and said, 'Your Majesty, I’m ready to make the cannon.' He had seen that a cannon was just a pipe, and thought it could be made from tin. Eventually, the cannon was prepared, and there was a picture of it, a copy was made, and it was ready. The day for testing it arrived, and all the courtiers came and sat down, including Naser al-Din Shah and his ministers. Then, the cannon was filled—filled with burnt oil, old rags, torn cloth, and so on—and a cannonball was placed on top. When they were about to fire it, the tin maker asked, 'Your Majesty, where should I aim?' Naser al-Din Shah replied, 'Aim at Petersburg.' Petersburg is a city in Russia. The fuse was lit, and the cannon burst open, sending burnt oil, charcoal, and soot everywhere, ruining the clothes and bodies of everyone there. Naser al-Din Shah shouted (excuse my language): 'You bastard, what have you done? You've destroyed everything here!' The tin maker replied, 'Well, look at what I’ve done to Petersburg!' (laughter).
Now, if this was the situation for the men travelers, imagine what it was like for the female travelers! (laughter) Look at what I did to Petersburg. This is why this was such a tough title, and it wasn’t something that could be easily dealt with.
In society, among the men, there was this idea that anyone who was a user must have been a thief, a pervert, someone who committed theft, a bad person, and so on. I even read the pamphlets of some groups similar to Congress 60, which later I critiqued, where they said: 'We were thieves, we were...'. I said, 'You may have been thieves, but not everyone who uses drugs is a thief. Not everyone who uses drugs is a pervert. Not everyone who uses drugs is begging. Not everyone who uses drugs is homeless.' In the high towers of Niavaran, there are very big traders sitting with golden opium pipes, golden tongs, and golden opium bowls, smoking opium. They’re trading towers and ships. One is trading rice ships. They’re all doing business.
But it was written there: 'What comes from us, comes back to us,' meaning yes, we were like that. You might have been like that, two people among you might have been like that, but the rest are not like that; they are traders, businesspeople, engineers, doctors, judges—there are users in every part of society. Now, one percent may be homeless, one percent or even less might have been using heroin or meth and ended up in a dead-end place. But this doesn’t mean that everyone in society is like that.
This was the case with the men, so imagine how it was when we said a woman was a user. They would want to label her with a thousand different tags. Now, it's been 27 years since I started, but since the beginning of the Congress 60, almost 25 years have passed. 25 years since the start of the Congress 60, and only now have we set an agenda titled 'Female Travelers,' so that society and even the male travelers can digest this issue.
Who are the female travelers we have? They are part of our own families. Most of the female travelers here in Congress 60 were or are family members of the male travelers. They were either wives, sisters, mothers, daughters, or cousins. Where did they start using drugs? They used them alongside family members, sometimes with their husbands, fathers, or mothers—always with their family members. Most of our female travelers are educated. They are all either bachelors, masters, or were students. They are in very, very good conditions.
This is why, whenever we mentioned female travelers, they would label them with a thousand tags. The next important issue is, with this atmosphere, this mindset, and this situation, where would these women go to get treated? A woman who is a drug user, where could she go for treatment? Would she stand in line at a welfare office, where it’s not in her character to stand there with 20 other women or men, and admit, 'I’m an addict, I’m this or that,' only to have the staff respond in a certain way? Where could she get treatment? Or which group could she join that would offer a sense of security? If a woman has become a user within the warm confines of her family, and now wants to seek treatment, she needs a safe environment, a secure place.
Our group of female travelers is completely secure; their building is entirely separate. The male travelers of Congress 60 do not know the female travelers. On the days when the female travelers have a meeting at the academy, the men don’t even pass by that area. Their buildings are completely separate. Their entire system is self-contained. The guides are from their own group, the guides for newcomers are from their own group, the masters of ceremony are from their own group, they have their own OT department, the assistants, the management, and everything else is from their own group. They work in a very organized and very structured manner.
Currently, we have branches in several cities: two in Tehran, two in Isfahan, one in Mashhad, one in Qazvin, and one in Kerman. Our female travelers are constantly on the move. Every week, on Wednesdays, they fly to Kerman to provide training and carry out their responsibilities, and then they return.
Every other week, they travel to Mashhad to conduct training and return. On Fridays, they leave by car at 4 or 5 in the morning to go to Qazvin, where they hold educational workshops, teach, and then return. The same applies to other cities where they are actively involved.
After 25 years of effort, we have reached this point, and in some locations, they even have their own buildings. In Tehran, they have two buildings of their own. In Isfahan, they also have two buildings; they originally had one, and we recently purchased another for them. Similarly, in other cities, we are either securing facilities or making efforts to construct them. The work is extremely challenging.
Establishing a new branch is incredibly difficult. It was challenging for the men, but for the women, it was even harder and more demanding. When we first started Congress 60, it was extremely tough, though it has improved significantly now. In the beginning, we had to dissolve and rebuild three, four, or even five times. We’d start constructing the foundation, and if the walls were crooked, we’d tear them down and start over. We repeated this process until we achieved a solid and well-structured organization.
Now, after all these years, and only after 25 years, we’ve introduced the topic of "Female Travelers" as a weekly agenda. This is so that in all sessions, men can discuss this subject, talk about the challenges and issues involved, and, if there are women struggling with substance use in their families, they can be guided to the Congress 60 branches.
Unfortunately, we don’t have branches in every city, which is a significant challenge. We are working hard to establish Female Travelers' programs in more locations and cities. So far, we have around 7, 8, or 10 branches, and we’re striving to increase this number. Many women are in deep distress due to addiction and have no solution or way out, making their situation extremely difficult. This is an issue we might not fully realize or comprehend.
The only person who was initially among the Female Travelers was me—personally, no one else. I gradually trained them step by step, little by little. Now, they no longer need me as much; I mostly handle administrative tasks while they manage everything themselves. Occasionally, I might check in, but they have reached a level of capability and strength where they can handle everything on their own. After 25 years, we have managed to help them achieve this complete self-sufficiency to carry out these responsibilities.
Today, I invited them as well. The esteemed guests who are here today are the assistants for the Women Travelers, and I didn't force anyone to attend. I simply said, "Whoever is interested, come voluntarily." Since this is the Week of Female Travelers, they should begin speaking. This year, the Female Travelers will also participate in Companion Group meetings. However, this can't be done everywhere—only in centers that have Companion Groups. In such centers, during closed companion meetings, they can invite Female Travelers to serve as the guest speaker and discuss this topic.
As much as possible, they will provide their services and will only attend to speak at closed Companion Group workshops. Hopefully, in the coming years, they can also participate in joint workshops with men and women or even serve as guest speakers in men's meetings. We need to implement this so that we can show society that if someone has made a mistake, they should be given the opportunity to correct it, rather than being hidden away or viewed with an extremely negative perspective.
Of course, the female travelers who are with us now are all continuing their education. Some are pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in fields like psychiatry, and they have either already joined universities or are planning to, so they can gradually convey accurate and precise information to academic institutions. That’s all I have to say for now. If needed, I’ll join in during the discussions, but for now, I’d like to invite any of the women travelers who are willing to come forward, take a seat here, and share their thoughts.
After the words of Assistant Fatemeh, Mr. Dezhakam stated: Look, Fatemeh was involved with substances from a young age—even while she was in her mother’s womb, as her mother was a consumer. This means her exposure started from the moment she was born. In places like Kerman and Mashhad, using opium wasn’t considered unusual or significant; it was a common part of family life. My own mother also used opium—it wasn’t seen as something bad. My uncles used it too.
Addiction wasn’t viewed the way it is today; it was present within families. Mothers consumed opium because, in the past, women would have 14 to 15 children, and the physical pain they experienced—backaches, leg pain—led them to use opium for relief. Gradually, they became consumers. We have an interesting case here of someone exposed to opium in their mother’s womb who was later treated using the DST method."
At the end, he stated:
"Hello, friends. I am Hossein, a traveler.
If some family groups in Tehran would like to invite female travelers, we can’t allow everyone just yet. We might approve one, two, or three for now. This process should go through Mrs. Ani Kamandar, and she will communicate with me, and I will provide guidance on what to do and how to plan.
The sharing time didn’t reach the other gentlemen.
I hope this week you discuss this topic. If you have a female addict in your family, bring her into this safe environment so she can begin her journey. If you have a companion, bring them as well. In some cities, companions are not brought along. If your companion comes to Congress 60, they will also learn the proper way of living, stop complaining as much, and become more balanced. It’s in your best interest. But if you don’t bring them, they’ll constantly ask, 'Where are you going? What’s the point?' because they haven’t received the necessary education.
Dear friends, please make an effort to introduce all companions to the family groups. Even if the companion is male—a father, a brother—have them join as well. The male companions' group is also gradually forming.
We have a national consultation phone line based in the Rose building. The number has been posted on the walls in all branches. If there is a female addict, they can call during specified hours to obtain information and guidance.
Let us conclude the session with the prayer of Congress 60.
Typist: Companion Parisa
Translated by: Companinon Marjan
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January 7, 2025
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