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Drugs In The Highlands |
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Behavioural Patterns of Drug Users In Highland |
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4. RESULTS 4.1. Socio-demographic characteristics A total of 76 current drug injectors were interviewed. As can be seen in table 1 below, just 7 (9.2%) of the sample were interviewed in treatment settings throughout Highland. The remaining 69 (90.8%) respondents were interviewed in private houses or car, prison or in community projects within Highland. |
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Table 1. Interviews conducted at treatment and
non-treatment settings
However, as can be seen in table 2, many of the respondents interviewed in non-treatment sites were currently undergoing treatment at the time of the interview. The average age of those interviewed was 29.2 years, 58 (76.3%) were male, and 18 (23.7%) female. Thirty-five (46.1%) had a steady partner and 32 (42.1%) were living with their sexual partner. Forty-seven (61.8%) injectors lived in their own or partner’s house, 18 (23.7%) lived in someone else’s home, 6 (7.9%) had spent most of the last six months in prison and 5 (6.6%) had no fixed abode. 50 (65.8%) injectors had one or more children. One injector did not answer this question. Fifty-eight (76.3%) injectors had been unemployed in all six months prior to interview; 5 (6.6 %) had been fully employed during this period and 1 (1.3%) had been in full-time education. The average weekly income from all sources was £315 (range £50 - £2000). The average weekly expenditure on drugs was £238.23 (range £20 - £900). Sixty-five (85%) respondents had acquired income from illegal sources in the previous six months. The two most common sources of illegal income were shoplifting and drug dealing reported by 34 (52.3%) and 21 (32.3%) injectors respectively. Table 2. Sample characteristics
The City of Inverness was the area of residence for the largest proportion 39 (51.3 %) of current drug injectors, providing over half of the total sample. The proportions residing in all areas are shown in figure 1. Figure 1. District of residence
Although Inverness provided over half of the sample this was not unexpected having the largest population (50,970) of all areas included in the study. The bulk of the Easter Ross sample was drawn from the town of Alness which provided 21 (27.6%) of the sample with a population of only 4,790. Nairn, with a population of 8,190, provided 6.6% of the sample and Fort William with a population of 9,320 yielded 9.2% of the total sample. Table 3 details the proportion of sample by sex on a regional basis. There was a wide variety in the proportional breakdown of male to female. Fort William had the highest proportion with three of the seven Fort William respondents being female. The corresponding proportions in the other areas were 28%, 20% and 18% in Easter Ross, Nairn and Inverness respectively. Table 3. Gender breakdown by region.
Table 4 gives a more detailed breakdown of respondents’ district of residence. As can be seen the total sample was drawn from a wide area within each of the districts under study. Table 4 District of residence
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