A Meta-Analysis of the Factors Affecting Drug Trafficking and Strategies to Deal with it during 2006 to 2017 in Tehran *

Objective: The present study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of factors affecting drug trafficking and strategies to deal with it from 2006 to 2017 in Tehran. Method: The research method was meta-analysis. A total of 18 studies in the field of drug trafficking were identified through searching on the Internet in domestic databases and in organizations and universities in Tehran, and finally, dissertations, projects, and articles that met the necessary criteria and information for the meta-analysis were selected. Results: The conducted studies had fundamental problems in terms of sampling considerations, statistical tests, and methodology. Theoretically, the level of analysis of some of the theories used in the theoretical foundations of the research was not consistent with the variables studied in the research. The results of the meta-analysis section showed that the combined effect size in the field of drug trafficking in the fixed model and the randomized model was 0.53 and 0.56, respectively, but in a separate survey, the effect size of the category of the environmental-social factors was higher than that of the disciplinary factors. Conclusion: Given the theoretical and methodological weakness of the conducted studies, it is important and necessary to have a specific theoretical framework for hypothesis-based studies, as well as methodological considerations. Also, based on the larger effect size of environmental-social factors compared to disciplinary factors, it can be said that this finding is somewhat indicative of the underdevelopment of Tehran. This underdevelopment and its results along with the natural, geographical, and political characteristics of the city of Tehran (centrality) have finally led citizens and other immigrants to drug trafficking.