Comparison of Demographic Characteristics of Methamphetamine versus Opioid Users in The Addiction Treatment Center: A Case Study

The use of opioid has a long history in Iran. In recent years, with the changing pattern of drug use from traditional to industrial, have increased the use of stimulants, especially methamphetamine. The purpose of this study was to compare the demographic characteristics of methamphetamine users with opioids in the selected addiction treatment center in Zahedan city.
This research was a descriptive-analytic study that was done in the period from April to March 2015 on the record of all users of methamphetamine or opioids who were referred to the selected addiction treatment center in Zahedan, numbering 156 people. The required information was collected from patient's records. Data analysis was done using chi-square and logistic regression through SPSS software (version 21).
Most of the participants were male (89.7%), less than 35 years (50.6%), married (59%), employed (60.3%) and primary or non-elementary education (35.9%). In terms of age, methamphetamine users were significantly younger than opioid users (P = 0.004). The two groups did not have a significant difference in terms of gender (P = 0.15), education level (P = 0.6) and marital status (P = 0.94). In addition, In terms of job, the most methamphetamine users unlike opioid users were unemployed (P = 0.01).
The findings of this study showed that the use of methamphetamine versus opioid has more prevalent in younger and unemployed people, therefore it can be prevented by promoting cultural and educational fields and creating an engagement for young people of the occurrence of such abnormalities in society.