Table DUP-1. Prevalence of lifetime drug use among prisoners, 2000–06

Country	Year	Source/ reference (1)	Definition and methodological comments (2)	Drug used
				(and if any: restriction on base population)	Note	%
Belgium	2003	1	Persons 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
Bulgaria	2006	1	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report) Comment: national survey in 17 remand prisons among all accused, defendant adults and detained persons (n= 11400)	any illicit drug		18
				cannabis		3
				cocaine		2
				heroin		10
				amphetamines		3
				ecstasy		2
Bulgaria	2006	1	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 6 prisons among prisoners (n= 3733)	Any illicit drug		11
Bulgaria	2006	1	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among prisoners (n= 7274)	cannabis		7
				cocaine		1
				heroin		9
				amphetamines		2
				ecstasy		2
Bulgaria	2006	2	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among on remand detainees (n= 3567)	Any illicit drug		8
				cannabis		1
				cocaine		0.3
				heroin		5
				amphetamines		0.3
				ecstasy		0.8
Bulgaria	2006	3	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior/within prison. Comment: national survey in 10 prisons among sentenced detainees (n= 1257)	Any illicit drug		37
				cannabis		31
				cocaine		23
				heroin		23
				amphetamines		19
				ecstasy		18
Bulgaria	2004	4	Persons registered (in the judicial file) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey based on cases for which drug use prior to imprisonment was mentioned during the collection of data for the judicial file, among all convicted detainees (n= 11.521).	any illicit drug		15
				cannabis		4
				cocaine		3
				heroin		4
				amphetamines		2
				ecstasy		2
Bulgaria	2004	5	Persons in contact with health services, psychologists and social workers reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey in all prisons in Bulgaria (n=11.521).	any illicit drug	(4)	7
				cannabis	(4)	1
				cocaine	(4)	0.8
				heroin	(4)	3
				amphetamines	(4)	0.5
Greece	2000	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comments: survey in 1 prison amongst on remand and convicted prisoners (n = 136)	any illicit drug		48
Spain	2006	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment Comments: nationwide survey in 66 prisons in a random sample of prisoners (n= 56188)	cannabis		65
				cocaine		53
				heroin		39
				heroin+cocaine in the same dose		31
				amphetamines		25
				ecstasy		24
				crack		39
Latvia	2003	1	Persons 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	2004	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey in 11 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609)	any illicit drug (adult males)		31.5
				cannabis (adult males)		26
				cocaine (adult males)		11
				heroin (adult males)		7
				amphetamines (adult males)		16
				ecstasy (adult males)		16
Hungary	2004	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use (both prior to and in prison). Comment: national survey in 11 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609)	any illicit drug (adult males)		34
				cannabis (adult males)		27
				cocaine (adult males)		11
				heroin (adult males)		8
				amphetamines (adult males)		16
				ecstasy (adult males)		17
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	2002-2003	2	Youth reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: survey in 8 youth detention centres in 3 regions among a representative sample (n= 205) (random sample of 135 boys and over-sample of 70 girls) of 14-17 year-olds on remand and convicted.	cannabis (youth)		78
				cocaine (youth)		11
				heroin/opiates (youth)		4
				amphetamines (youth)		8
				ecstasy (youth)		18
				hallucinogenic mushrooms (youth)		13
				crack (youth)		2
				LSD (youth)		3
Portugal	2001	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: nationwide 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
Romania	2006	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: survey in 27 prisons among prisoners (n=3218)	any illicit drug		16
				cannabis		15
				cocaine		6
				heroin		8
				amphetamines		1
				ecstasy		4
				LSD		1
Finland	2001	1	Persons 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
United Kingdom (England and 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
Norway	2002	1	Persons 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:

 n.a.: not available. 

 (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. 

 (4) Bulgaria: due the fear of sanction, it is likely that drug use is under-reported. 

Sources:

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

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