Behavioural Patterns of Drug Users In Highland

4.9. Problems associated with drug use.

Seventy-four (97.4%) respondents said that they had a General Practitioner. Sixty-eight (89.5%) had stated that they had at some time approached their GP for help or treatment with their drug problem. Twenty-eight (36.8%) had been hospitalised in the past year for some other reason than trying to stop taking drugs. In the past year, 18 (23.7%) respondents reported that they had experienced seizures or fits, 17 (22.4%) admitted to having had abscesses on their skin and 16 (21.1%) having had some serious illness. Fourteen (18.4%) had suffered an assault that required them to seek medical attention, the same number had hepatitis diagnosed by a doctor. Thirteen (17.1%) respondents had an overdose that required medical attention. Three injectors had jaundice in the past year, whereas septicaemia, deep vein thrombosis and sexually transmitted diseases were each reported by two respondents respectively.