Azerbaijan remains a transit country for illicit narcotics given its location along major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe and Russia.

The aforesaid is noted in the 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)  released by the US Department of State.

As per the INCSR report on Azerbaijan, “The country is increasingly favored as a transit route for drugs over neighbors such as Turkey, which has strengthened its border controls in recent years. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated in 2014 that between 5.8 and seven metric tons (MT) of illegal drugs transit Azerbaijan annually, much of it through the country’s southern border with Iran. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also reported in 2014 that it intercepts approximately 10-12 percent of all narcotics transiting the country.”

According to the US Department of State report, “Drug seizures and arrest statistics for the first six months of 2015 suggest similar trends from previous years. Over this six-month period, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported investigations of 1807 drug related criminal acts, including 478 drug sales committed by 22 criminal groups consisting of 77 persons. This resulted in over 1250 drug related convictions. Of these convictions, 1115 defendants (88.7 percent) were unemployed and not enrolled in any educational institution.

“Azerbaijani media reported two large-scale marijuana seizures in early 2015.”

The INCSR report on Azerbaijan concludes that, “As officially reported, domestic drug use and cultivation exist on a relatively small scale, although the Government of Azerbaijan may underestimate the scope of the problem. Government-sponsored programs targeting drug abuse remain inadequate, and drug treatment centers in Azerbaijan would benefit from increased support.”