A follow-up study of drug users in Southern Iran

Iran has the highest rate of opium addiction per capita in the world. The aim of this study was to examine the outcome of substance use among a cohort of drug users living in a rural area in Southern Iran. A semi-structured interview was conducted at baseline and at each follow-up visit on 211 substance users. Of the total of 211 drug users, 145 were non-injection drug users (non-IDUs) and 66 were injection drug users (IDUs). The most common method of drug use among all participants was revealed to be opium smoking. Other methods of choice were injection drug use (IDUs) and opium ingestion among 31% and 20% of participants, respectively. From the total of 211 participants in this cohort, on average (SD), each drug user gave up drugs 3.2 (2.7) times over the study period. Among those who were non-IDUs at the base line visit (145), 17 (12%) were abstinent for more than 6 months compared to 9 of 66 non-IDUs (14%) at the end of the study. By the end of the study period, 9 of 145 non-IDUs switched to non-IDUs while 11 of 66 IDUs (17%) switched to non-IDUs (chi-square = 5.78; p = 0.016). One main reason for a higher rate of transition among IDUs was mentioned by them as observing the deaths of several IDUs in their community that were a result of overdose.