Document Type : Review Article
Author
Addiction Research Centre, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
Legally speaking, consumption of any substance that causes inebriation is prohibited in the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In terms of medicine, alcoholic liquor is ethanol-containing liquid whether causes inebriation or not. Its consumption is considered as a crime and the user will be punished.
Ethanol as a known harmful substance might lead to mood instability and subsequently different crimes. Ethanol is the most abused substance throughout the world. There are 15 to 20 million alcohol consumers in the United States. 200 mg per deciliter is considered as the level of inebriation. When it rises to 300 or 400 mg and above, it may cause unconsciousness and coma and even death.
Inebriation in Islamic jurisprudence is a conditioned state, so that it occurs following consumption of an inebriant substance. Islamic penal code does not have a definition of inebriation; although consumption of the inebriant substance is considered as a crime. Inebriant in Islamic jurisprudence is any substance which causes inebriation and its consumption is known as a crime. Therefore, the punishment is stated in Islamic sharia in details. Based on Islamic criminal law, if an individual consumes an inebriant substance leading to inebriation, he will be punished even if one drop is drunk; no matter if it is low or high, pure or mixed, diluted or concentrated. Inebriation induced by inebriant substances is in different types. Islamic crime law has been revised in 2013 and the related subjects to alcohol use are 165, 168, 169, 173, 174 and 175.
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