The Effectiveness of Harm Reduction Programs in Seven Prisons of Iran.

Starting in 1990 many programs were initiated to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons in accordance with the policies of the Ministry of Health. This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of harm reduction programs vis-à-vis drug abuse and dependency in 7 prisons in Iran.The...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Payam Roshanfekr (Author), Marziyeh Farnia (Author), Masoumeh Dejman (Author)
Format: Book
Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to this object online.
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Starting in 1990 many programs were initiated to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons in accordance with the policies of the Ministry of Health. This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of harm reduction programs vis-à-vis drug abuse and dependency in 7 prisons in Iran.The methodology used is Before-After testing and the sample population is incarcerated prisoners in 7 large prisons in 7 provinces with diverse geographical, criminal, and numerical factors and the population sample is estimated at 2,200 inmates.Findings show that Drug addiction tests conducted on prisoners, right after their admittance indicated that 57% used at least one of the three drugs of morphine, amphetamines, and hashish (52% morphine, 4.5% ampheta-mines, and 3.9% hashish). Two months later, on the 2nd phase of the study, test results indicated that only 10% of subjects continued using drugs (P =0.05). Heroin and opium were the two most prevalent drugs. Smoking, oral in-take, and sniffing were the three most popular methods. Of those who continued to use drugs in prison, 95% admitted to drug use records.Intervention policies in prisons resulted in reduction of drug consumption, from 57% of the newly admitted inmates to 10% after two months of incarceration.
Item Description:2251-6085
2251-6093