The Trend in Substance Abuse among Addicts Referred to Withdrawal Centers, 1998-2003

Opium addiction is a major social, psychological and health problem in the world. In past decades addiction to legal and illegal drugs has been widespread and over 1000 kinds of narcotics have been recognized, which are used in different ways including eating, smoking, injection and inhaling. Statistics published by international organizations such as UNDCP, WHO and UNSCO indicated an increasing trend in drug abuse worldwide. The countries are different only in the pattern of drug abuse. This study investigates the pattern of drug abuse in last 5 years in Ardabil. This is a descriptive, analytical and prospective study. To obtain the trend of substance abuse the records of all addicts in 1998 (684 cases) and 2002-2003 (341 cases) were studied. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software (rel.11) using descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that in the last five years the use of hashish, opium extract and other substances has decreased whereas the trend of heroin and opium use has increased. The use of opium has increased from 48.07% in 1998 to 67.4% in 2002-2003. Also the heroin use has increased from 8.5% in 1998 to 27.5% in 2002-2003. Moreover, the use of hashish, opium extract and other narcotics has decreased. The highest decrease (23.5%) belonged to opium extract and the highest increase (19%) to heroin. According to the results we could say that the pattern of substance abuse in Ardabil in the last five years has changed and heroin and opium consumption has increased.