Research on cigarette, alcohol and pathological gambling addiction comorbid with illicit drug use within people subject to probation order due to illicit drug use

Research on Cigarette, Alcohol and Pathological Gambling Addiction Comorbid with Illicit Drug Use Within People Subject to Probation Order Due to Illicit Drug Use AIM: In this study, it is aimed to determine drug use characteristics and search prevalance of cigarette, alcohol and pathological gambling addiction comorbid with illicit drug use on people subject to probation order due to illicit drug use within Turkish Criminal Law Article 191. METHOD: This study is an epidemiologic-descriptive- study. Sample including 500 people is chosen by random sampling method among individuals over 18 and having probation order within Turkish Criminal Law Article 191.The study is performed in Izmir Probation Branch between April 2016-December 2016 following written permission taken from General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses. During face to face interviews, the aim of the study is told to individuals and Informed Consent Form is given to individuals who accept to participate. Then, Personal Information Form, Fagerström Nicotine Dependence Test, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and The South Oaks Gambling Screen are applied. FINDINGS: Participants are between 18-65 years, mean age is 28±8, 98.8 of them are males, 1.2% of them are females, 67.4% of them are single, 24% of them are married, 44.2% of them are secondary school graduates. 62.8% of them have parents alive and living together, 12.6% of them have divorced parents. 18% have self harm behaviour, 7.4% have suicide attempts. It is stated that 37.2% of participants have previous probation orders and 25% of them have previous criminal records except drug use, 14% of them have people who have probation order within their family, 11% of them have family members with criminal records, 63.2% of them have friends who have probation orders and 39% of them have friends with criminal records. Participants who have criminal records have punishments due to crimes including mainly hurting, theft, extortion, drug trade. Drug causing probation order for 77.2% of participants is cannabis. Drug which is used life time most commonly is cannabis (88.2%). Mean age to start drug use 19.09±5.3, average drug use period is 6.3±7 years. 40.2% of them have started using drugs before they are 18. 46.6% of them have stated that they started using drugs because of friend effect. Participants with criminal records compared to participants without criminal records, participants having previous probation order compared to the ones without a probation order, participants having friends using drugs compared to the ones that don't have friends using drugs are found to have longer drug use time periods. Besides 90.4% of participants smoke, 28.6% of them have middle level addiction and 14.2% of them have severe level addiction. 32.6% of them don't use alcohol, 38% of them use alcohol, 29.4% of them have problems with alcohol use. 13.6% of participants gamble, 2.2% of them have pathological gambling diagnosis. There is a statistically positive correlation between paricipants' level of substance use and smoking, alcohol use level and gambling behavior. RESULT: Addiction is a whole and it is important to regard multifactors related to eachother and to plan research in that way. Gender, age group, marital status, criminal record, drug use in social environment, criminal history and self harm behaviour are key determinants for drug use period and starting age. Besides, it can be stated that it is important to plan prevention studies regarding that cigarette, alcohol use and gambling behaviour are risk factors apart from illicit drugs that participants use. Keywords: probation; illicit drug; drug use; addiction; smoke; alcohol; pathological gambling