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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2018, 20, N5 (pages: 5 - 11)

Addiction and self-reported associated sociodemographic factors in a small province of Iran

Sedaghat Z., Fararouei M., Shahraki G., Karimzadeh Shirazi K., and Haghighi R.E.

Summary: Background: Drug addiction is a chronic brain disorder caused by drug use. It is one of the most important social and health problems, as it is responsible for the serious deterioration of health, mental health and the socioeconomic status of individuals and the community. Aims: The aim of this study was to understand the views of drug users on the factors putatively involved in their initiation of substance use and in their propensity to make attempts to quit drug use in Yasuj, Iran. Methods: Using a self-administered questionnaire, 362 male addicted participants (selected through snowball sampling) provided us with the information required. Results: Among all participants, 83.6% reported that they were not aware of the health or social consequences of addiction. Also, 33.13% referred to their friends as being the main reason for their addiction and 69.46% declared that they had been introduced to drugs by a friend. Opium was reported to be the most prevalent (92.44%) substance at first drug administration, the most common route being via eating. The most common place for drug use was a friend's home (29.52%). Among the participants, 82.34% were smokers who had started smoking when as young as 17.57±4.90 years of age. Family members were the main factor encouraging participants to attempt to quit (63.91%). Conclusion: Based on the information provided by the addicted participants, friendship is the most important initiating factor in addiction. Friends encouraged patients and provided them with drugs and a safe place to first administer them. On the other hand, family members and family relationships seem to help patients financially and emotionally to quit substance use. As a result, keeping or restoring family relationships may be helpful factors in predicting and treating addiction.