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Drugs In The Highlands |
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Behavioural Patterns of Drug Users In Highland |
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4.2. Patterns of Drug Use The average age for commencement of drug use was 14 years. Cannabis was the most frequently cited first drug of use (cited by 42, 55.3%). Solvents was the second most common first drug reported by 23 (30.3%) respondents. The average age of first drug injection was 20 years. The drugs most frequently recorded as the drug first injected by respondents were heroin (45, 59.2%), sulphate (15, 19.7%) and temgesic (8, 10.5%). The mean number of drugs used in the last six months was 10.9. The most popular drug of use was heroin with 74 (97.4%) respondents having used it. Cannabis was the second most popularly used drug (72, 94.7%) with dihydrocodeine (66, 86.8%) and non-prescribed Valium (64, 84.2%) third and fourth respectively. The average number of drugs injected during this period was 2.4. Thirty-five respondents (46.1%) had injected in all of the six months prior to interview with 11 (14.5%) having injected in only one (Table 5). Table 5. Number of months injected in last six months
Heroin was the most popular drug of injection with 73 (96.1%) respondents having injected it in the previous six months. MST was the second most popular with 21 (27.6%) of respondents having injected it, third was sulphate (20, 26.3%) and fourth Diconal (16, 21.1%). Table 6 (overleaf) shows all drugs injected and the frequency of injecting in the six months prior to interview. Those drugs injected on a daily basis by the respondents are illustrated in figure 2 (page 14). Table 6.
n.p. - non-prescribed Dfs -dihydrocodein Valium - diazepam Upjohns -tiazolam Figure 2. Drugs injected on a daily basis It can be seen from table 6 and figure 2 that heroin was by far the most widely injected and also the most frequently injected drug. Of all those who had injected heroin in the previous six months (n=73), 42 (55.4%) were injecting it on a daily basis. The three other drugs injected on a daily basis, temgesic, sulphate and cyclazine, were injected by a very small proportion of injectors (1.3%, 2.6% and 1.3% respectively). One respondent reported injecting non-prescribed methadone and had done so on a monthly basis. In addition to injecting drugs, injectors also consumed substances by non-injecting routes. Table 7 shows those substances which were widely used, but much less likely to be injected by respondents. Table 7. Drugs frequently used but not often injected in last 6 months.
n.p. - non-prescribed Dfs -dihydrocodein Valium - diazepam |
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