SUBSTANCE ABUSE; AMONG PRISONERS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

Objectives: To study the prevalence of substance abuse among prisoners and its effects on other inmates. Study design: A cross sectional study. Place and duration of study: Central jail Faisal Abad Pakistan during Jan. 2012 to Feb 2012. Methodology: All the convicted and condemned prisoners were included in the study and those exclusively charged for drugs abuse crimes were excluded. A snow ball convenient sampling technique was adopted. Sample size was not predetermined. The study population was (1080) male and above the age of 18 years. Results: About one hundred and eighty four (184) prisoners were found using different drugs. Among them seventy six 76 (41.3%) started using drugs on entering the prison and one hundred and eight 108 (58.7%) were using drugs before coming to prison. The 91(49.5 %) belonged to rural area and 93 (50.5%) belonged to urban areas. The most commonly used drug was heroin 181(96.7%) and 3(.6%) used different drugs like injections or pills. Conclusions: Substance abuse among prisoners was increasing day by day leading to increased crimes, health issues, and significant economic constrains in every country especially among poor nations. Strong political will and public motivation was the need of time to deal with the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]