Substance Abuse Among Prisoner in Erbil/Iraq

Abstract

Background and objectives

Large proportions of people who enter the criminal act andprison have a history of drug use. Many of these people continue to use drugswhile in prison. As there havebeen no recent studies of substance use in prisoners among our community, wehave conducted this study of the prevalence of substanceabuse and dependence in prisoners.

Methods

This study was conducted atdirectorate of adult reformatory prison in Erbil city, within a period of 6months between 15th of March to 15 September 2014. A convenient sample of 100sentenced male prisoners from the entire number during the period of the studywas selected. After randomization each prisoner was assessed throughsemi-structured interview based on the DSM IV. Drug abuse patterns and the relationship among addiction, crimeprevalence, and some personal as well as socio-demographic characteristics werestudied.

Results

Accordingto the findings, characteristics such as age, education level, economic status, urban and/or rural status, all have an effects on the rate of drug use and, oncrime commitment and its re-occurrence. Accordingly, younger age, lowersocioeconomic status and urban residence showed a relationship with tendency tocommit crime.

Conclusion

The prevalence of substance abuse anddependence, although highly variable, is typically many orders of magnitudehigher in prisoners than the general population. This highlights the need forscreening for substance abuse and dependence at reception into prison, effective treatment while in custody, and follow-up on release.