Retrospective evaluation of forensic toxicology reports for turkish citizen cases referred to the Department of Forensic Medicine, Gaziantep University, between 2020-2022, due to suspected drug use by judicialauthorities

Drug use is a serious public health problem that is increasing day by day in our country and worldwide, causing morbidity and mortality. In this study, we retrospectively examined the reports prepared for cases sent to the Department of Forensic Toxicology Laboratory between 2020 and 2022 alleging drug use to reveal the sociodemographiccharacteristics and drug use habits of Turkish citizen cases through epidemiological data. According to the evaluation of 7,734 reports within the scope of the study, drug use was detected in 85.6% of the cases. 96.1% of the drug-using cases were male, and drug use was most prevalent in the age groupe of 19-29 (52.1%). Furthermore, 89.4% of the cases had a single class of drug use, and 94.5% of those using a single class of drug used amphetamine-type stimulants. Among cases using multiple drugclasses, 96% used two different classes in combination, and in dual simultaneous use, the most common combination (45.3%) was found to be amphetamine-type stimulants with opioids. Due to the proximity of Gaziantep province to Lebanon and Syria, which are indicated as productioncenters for amphetamine-type stimulants, and its location on the drug trafficking routes there is an easy access to amphetamine-type stimulants. Therefore, it is suggested that emphasis should be placed on amphetamine-type stimulants to combat drug abuse. Conducting similar studies in this field to identify at-risk groups in terms of usage will contribute to the comprehensive understanding of the drug use problem, as well as the identification of solutions and the implementation of preventive measures.