The social structure of addiction has changed in Iran in the past decades. This article focuses on how and in what ways this change has occurred. It utilizes analytical realism and the voluntaristic theory of action advanced by Parsons in his earlier work. A secondary analysis of macro-national research results is preformed to describe the scale, patterns, and structure of addiction in Iran. Subjective aspects are also probed.The social structure of addiction has changed in Iran in the past decades. This article focuses on how and in what ways this change has occurred. It utilizes analytical realism and the voluntaristic theory of action advanced by Parsons in his earlier work. A secondary analysis of macro-national research results is preformed to describe the scale, patterns, and structure of addiction in Iran. Subjective aspects are also probed.