Analysis of psychological characteristics and criminal history of intravenous drug abusers in Iran

Abstract

Objectives: The  main of this study  was assess the psychological characteristics and criminal history 
of intravenous drug abusers, emphasizing the effects of various abused drugs and multidrug addiction.  
Materials and methods: A comparative study was performed in 2009 on intravenous drug abusers in 
Drop-In Centers (DIC) and a Hospital which only Distributed Methadone (HDM). The sample consisted of 
261 subjects. Logistic Regression analyses in SPSS 16 were used for analyzing.  
Results: Psychological disorders were highly prevalent among the drug abusers. However, DIC addicts 
had better overall psychological health compared to HDM group. Prevalence of criminal activity among 
drug abusers was 48.2% and about 70% of these subjects had a history of more than one crime. 
Multiple drug abuse and concomitant with alcohol had no relation with criminal history (OR= .84 and 
1.7; 95% CI: (.48, 1.5and.7, 1.95). However, addiction to heroine, Psychological disorders and low 
education level were highly related with criminal activity. 
Conclusion: Higher scores in mental health questionnaire of DIC addicts in comparison to HDM addicts, 
suggest the positive effects of psychological interventions for this Population.  There is the possibility 
of the involvement of psychopharmacological factors of heroin in occurrence of psychological 
disorders and criminal activity. This needs more rigorous investigation by large cohort studies.