Substance Abuse in Addicts Referred to Public and Private Substance Abuse Treatment Centers

Aims: Drug addiction is a mental, social, and economic problem that comes from abnormal and illicit consumption of substances such as alcohol, opium, hashish, and etc., making the addict psychologically and physiologically dependent to those substances. This study was designed and performed to evaluate the pattern of drug abuse change in the addicts visiting addiction treatment centers of Kashan City, Iran. Instrument & Methods: This retrospective descriptive research was performed on 4066 persons referred to addiction treatment and harm reduction therapy centers, monitored by Kashan University of Medical Sciences, during 2004 to 2008. After coding, data were entered into the SPSS 16 software. Chi-square and one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Findings: The main reasons of the tendency to drugs were not having fun (72.5%), family problems (55%) and not having knowledge (22.7%). The use of opium was the highest in all the years while the crack was used by 7.1% of drug addicts in 2004 and increased to 76% in 2007. 92.8% of drug abuses were through fumigation, 33.7% through injection, 48% orally and 8.6% through inhalants.Conclusion: Youths are the most vulnerable age group to drug addiction. Easy access to illegal drugs, wrong friends, and curiosity are of the significant factors spreading drug addiction.