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Table DUP-1. Prevalence of lifetime use of various drugs among prisoners

Country

Year

Source/ref. (1)

Definition and methodological comments (2)

Drug used
(and if any: restriction on base population)

%

Belgium

2003

1

People reporting having used illicit drugs (prior/within prison).
Comment: survey in a random sample of 10 prisons (over a total of 38) among on remand, convicted and social defence (psychiatric cases) prisoners (n = 886).

any illicit drug

51

cannabis

47

cocaine

36

heroin

26

amphetamines

33

ecstasy

31

Belgium

1993

4

People reporting having used illicit drugs.
Comment: survey in one prison amongst volontary prisoners entering prison (n = 1627).

 

42

Greece

2000

1

People reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comments: survey in 1 prison amongst on remand and convicted prisoners (n = 136)

any illicit drug

48

Greece

1998

3

Adolescents reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: survey in 2 prisons for adolescents, both on remand and convicted, enrolled in vocational training (n = 100).

cannabis (adolescents)

46

cocaine (adolescents)

18

heroin (adolescents)

19

amphetamines (adolescents)

4

ecstasy (adolescents)

7

other drugs (adolescents)

11

Greece

1995

5

Lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment (based on self-reports and serum tests).
Comment: survey in 2 prisons amongst convicted voluntary prisoners (n = 544).

cannabis

22

cocaine

6

heroin

66

Spain

1998

3

Women reporting lifetime drug use (alcohol included).
Comment: survey in 18 prisons (n = 356).

any illicit drug - alcohol included (females)

70

Ireland

1996

5

Men reporting lifetime drug use.
Comment: survey in one male prison (one-fifth systematic sample) (n = 108).

any illicit drug (males)

86

cannabis (males)

86

cocaine (males)

56

heroin (males)

66

amphetamines (males)

61

ecstasy (males)

60

Latvia

2003

1

People reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n = 2867).

cannabis

51

cocaine

15

heroin

24

amphetamines

22

Hungary

1997

1

Lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment (based on self-reports and serum tests).
Comment: national survey in a sample of all prisons amongst adult male prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n = 951).

any illicit drug (adult males)

22

cannabis (adult males)

11

cocaine (adult males)

5

heroin (adult males)

3

amphetamines (adult males)

7

other drugs (adult males)

1

Netherlands

2003

1

Men reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: survey in 8 prisons among male detainees (n = 355).

any illicit drug (males)

79

Netherlands

1989-1990

5

Young male offenders reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment (DSM-III).
Comment: survey among young male convicted detainees in one youth detention centre, aged 18-24 years (n = 200).

any illicit drug (young males)

58

Austria

1994

3

People reporting having used illicit drugs.
Comment: survey in one prison amongst Narcotic Drug Act convicted people (n = 307).

 

72

Portugal

2001

1

People reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: natiowide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n = 2057).

any illicit drug

61

cannabis

54

cocaine

44

heroin

44

amphetamines

18

ecstasy

16

Finland

2001

1

People reporting having used illicit drugs.
Comment: national survey among a sample of voluntary HIV tested convicted prisoners (n = 825).

any illicit drug

58

opiates

5

amphetamines

29

Finland

1995

3

People reporting having used illicit drugs
Comments: survey in 4 prisons

 

31

United Kingdom (England & Wales)

2001

1

Women reporting lifetime drug use.
Comment: national survey of female prisoners on remand and convicted in 10 prisons (n = 301).

any illicit drug (females)

84

cannabis (females)

78

cocaine/crack (females)

57

heroin/opiates (females)

60

amphetamines (females)

58

ecstasy (females)

47

other tranquilizers (females)

57

United Kingdom (England & Wales) (3)

1997

4

People reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: nationwide survey in all 131 prisons (n = 3142).

any illicit drugs

69-85

cannabis

65-82

cocaine

30-42

heroin

34-52

amphetamines

40-53

crack

28-44

Norway

2002

1

People reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment.
Comment: national survey in all 52 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners (n = 1074).

any illicit drug

70

cannabis

65

cocaine

51

heroin

37

amphetamines

59

ecstasy

45

Notes:       

(1) For sources and bibliographic references, the numbering refers to [Table DUP-0].

(2) Caution should be applied when considering that a survey is said to be 'national' as this refers to its intended geographical coverage, but does not mean it is necessarily representative of the national situation, which would depend on any sampling procedures adopted. Note that the size of the prison population surveyed is not available for most of the studies displayed in this table, and sample sizes reflect different proportions of the population in different countries.

(3) Results are provided for 4 different sub-groups of population: male remanded, male sentenced, female remanded, female sentenced. Women and men on remand represent a small proportion of the prison population, and thus these groups were over-sampled. Ranges reported here represent the minimum and maximum values obtained across the 4 sub-groups.

Sources:       

For access to sources and bibliographic references, refer to [Table DUP-0].

Data filter | duptab02-en.xml