Azarakhsh Mokri, MD, is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Director of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the Iranian Nation Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS). During the recent 15 years he has been active in substance abuse treatment in Iran and performed several nationwide studies on efficacy of various interventions in substance abuse treatment and reduction of HIV-related risk behaviors in opiate abusers. He inaugurated pilot campaigns of methadone and buprenorphine maintenance (including a NIDA funded study directed by Richard Schottenfeld from Yale University) in Iran in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Since then, he has actively pursued the training of health workers, expansion of the various treatment services including pilot studies on substitution treatment with opium tincture (OT) and non-pharmacological interventions for stimulant abuse and evaluating their efficacy in governmental, non-governmental and private settings. He has prepared official national treatment guidelines on MMT, treatment of amphetamine abuse, agonist treatment through OT and non-pharmacological interventions in addiction. Since 2003, through INCAS and joint organizations, he has chaired and carried out more than 220 workshops training more than 6,000 physicians, counselors and clinical psychologists in Iran. During the recent years he has been the guest of more than 150 live national TV programs on addiction, psychiatry and mental health.