Drug and alcohol problems among Norwegian inmates were explored in this study. Estimates of the portion of drug users among inmates were assessed on the most solid basis to date. The analysis was based on a survey of all Norwegian prisons. During the same week in December 2002 all Norwegian inmates received a questionnaire to survey demographic features, use of alcohol and illicit drugs.
Results
The findings suggest that nearly half of the prison population has regularly used hard drugs before the imprisonment, and a fourth were regular intravenous drug users. Polydrug use is highly prevalent. Almost one-third of the inmates used illicit drugs during the present stay in prison. The proportion of highly frequent drinkers appears to be three to four times that found in the general population.
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