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Table DUP-3. Prevalence of drug use within prison among prisoners, 2000–08

Country	Year	Source/ reference (1)	Definition and methodological comments (2)	Drug used (and if any: restriction on base population)	%
Belgium	2008	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: cross-sectional national survey in all the 32 Belgian prisons in a representative sample of 10% of prisoners in each prison, including remanded, sentenced and mentally disordered prisoners, both males and females (n= 1078)	any illicit drug	35
				cannabis	32
				cocaine	9
				heroin	12
				amphetamines	5
				ecstasy	4
	2006	2	Persons reporting having used illicit drugs (or an unprescribed psychotropic drug) during the current detention. Comment: national survey in all the 32 Belgian prisons in a representative sample of 10% of adult prisoners, including remanded, sentenced and mentally disordered prisoners, both males and females (n= 902).	any illicit drug	30
				cannabis	27
				cocaine, crack	9
				heroin	12
				amphetamines	7
				ecstasy	5
				LSD, magic mushrooms	1
	2003	3	Persons reporting having used illicit drugs during the last incarceration. 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	33
Bulgaria	2008	1	Persons reporting at admission to the prison drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: national survey in 17 remand prisons among all convicted, defendant adults and detained persons in prison and remand arrest during the year (n= 9983).	Any illicit drug	4
				cannabis	0.7
				cocaine	0.4
				heroin	1
				amphetamines	1
				ecstasy	0.05
	2008	1	Persons reporting at admission to the prison drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: national survey in 17 remand prisons among all convicted, defendant adults and detained persons in prison and remand arrest during the year (n= 9983).	Any illicit drug	0.6
				cannabis	0
				cocaine	0
				heroin	0.05
				amphetamines	0
				ecstasy	0.05
	2006	3	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users in prison (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among prisoners (n= 2562)	any illicit drug	1
				cannabis	0.5
				cocaine	0
				heroin	0.6
				amphetamines	0
				ecstasy	0
	2006	3	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as last year drug users in prison (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among prisoners (n= 2562)	any illicit drug	1
				cannabis	0.2
				cocaine	0
				heroin	0.4
				amphetamines	0.1
				ecstasy	0
	2006	3	Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as last month drug users in prison (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among prisoners (n= 2562)	any illicit drug	0.1
				cannabis	0.04
				cocaine	0
				heroin	0.04
				amphetamines	0
				ecstasy	0
Greece	2000	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use while in prison. Comment: survey in 1 prison amongst on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 136).	any illicit drug	46
Latvia	2003	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison. Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).	cannabis	28
				cocaine	4
				heroin	12
				amphetamines	12
				ecstasy	7
	2003	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).	cannabis	15
				cocaine	2
				heroin	5
				amphetamines	8
				ecstasy	4
	2003	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).	cannabis	6
				cocaine	1
				heroin	2
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	1
Lithuania	2003	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: national survey in all 14 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners at 31.12.2003 (n= 8063).	any illicit drug	13
				cannabis	0.1
				heroin	9.5
				cocaine	0.03
				stimulants	1
				several drugs	3
Luxembourg	2005	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide cross-sectional survey in 2 state prisons amongst the total population of prisoners (n= 246).	any illicit drug	56
Hungary	2008	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison. Comment: national cross-sectional survey in 22 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult both males and females convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 503).	any illicit drug	14
				cannabis	12
				cocaine	1
				heroin	0.5
				amphetamines	4
				ecstasy	5
	2008	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: national cross-sectional survey in 22 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult both males and females convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 503).	any illicit drug	8
				cannabis	6
				cocaine	1
				heroin	0.4
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	2
	2008	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: national cross-sectional survey in 22 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult both males and females convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 503).	any illicit drug	3
				cannabis	3
				cocaine	0.2
				heroin	0.2
				amphetamines	1
				ecstasy	0.4
	2004	2	Persons reporting lifetime drug use 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)	8
				cannabis (adult males)	6
				cocaine (adult males)	1
				heroin (adult males)	1
				amphetamines (adult males)	1
				ecstasy (adult males)	3
	2004	2	Persons reporting drug use within the last year 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)	5
				cannabis (adult males)	3
				cocaine (adult males)	0.4
				heroin (adult males)	0.2
				amphetamines (adult males)	0.4
				ecstasy (adult males)	1
	2004	2	Persons reporting drug use within the last month 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)	3
				cannabis (adult males)	1
				cocaine (adult males)	0.2
				heroin (adult males)	0
				amphetamines (adult males)	0
				ecstasy (adult males)	0.3
Poland	2007	1	Adult men reporting lifetime drug use within prison. Comment: nationwide survey (41 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1240)	any illicit drug (adult males)	20
				cannabis (adult males)	18
				cocaine (adult males)	3
				heroin (adult males)	2
				amphetamines (adult males)	15
				ecstasy (adult males)	7
	2001	2	Adult men reporting lifetime drug use within prison. Comment: nationwide survey (38 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1189).	any illicit drug (adult males)	23
				cannabis (adult males)	21
				cocaine (adult males)	5
				heroin (adult males)	3
				amphetamines (adult males)	15
				ecstasy (adult males)	5
Portugal	2007	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use within prison. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986)	any illicit drug	36
				cannabis	30
				cocaine	10
				heroin	14
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	3
	2007	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986)	any illicit drug	41
				cannabis	29
				cocaine	8
				heroin	12
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	2
	2007	1	Persons reporting drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986)	any illicit drug	27
				cannabis	23
				cocaine	4
				heroin	7
				amphetamines	1
				ecstasy	1
	2007	1	Persons reporting regular (everyday) drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986)	any illicit drug	12
				cannabis	7
				cocaine	1
				heroin	3
				amphetamines	0.3
				ecstasy	0.3
	2001	2	Persons reporting drug use within the last year in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057)	any illicit drug	52
				cannabis	44
				cocaine	26
				heroin	33
				amphetamines	10
				ecstasy	10
	2001	2	Persons reporting drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).	any illicit drug	30
				cannabis	24
				cocaine	7
				heroin	16
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	1
	2001	2	Persons reporting regular (everyday) drug use within the last month in prison. Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).	any illicit drug	10
				cannabis	6
				cocaine	2
				heroin	5
Romania	2006	1	Persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison. Comment: survey in 27 prisons among prisoners (n=3218)	any illicit drug	2
				cannabis	0.6
				cocaine	0.2
				heroin	1
				amphetamines	0.1
				ecstasy	0.2
				LSD	0.1
Spain	2006	1	Persons reporting last month drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey in 66 prisons in a random sample of prisoners (n= 4934) (women overrepresented).	cannabis	28
				cocaine	3
				crack	3
				heroin	5
				heroin + cocaine in the same dose	2
				amphetamines	0.3
				ecstasy	0.3
Finland	2001	1	Persons reporting illicit drug use while in prison. Comment: national survey among a sample of voluntary HIV tested convicted prisoners (n= 825).		16.5
United Kingdom (England)	2001	2	Women reporting drug use within prison. Comment: national survey of female prisoners on remand and convicted in 10 prisons (n= 301) (from Borrill et al., 2003b)	any illicit drug (females)	45
				cannabis (females)	21
				cocaine (females)	2
				crack (females)	9
				heroin (females)	27
				amphetamines (females)	1
				ecstasy (females)	1
				LSD (females)	1
				tranquilizers (females)	17
United Kingdom (England and Wales)	2001-2002	4	Persons reporting drug use in the current prison. Comment: survey in 31 prisons in a representative sample of male and female remanded and sentenced prisoners (n= 2266).	any illicit drug	39
				cannabis	32
				cocaine	1
				crack	5
				heroin	21
				amphetamine	1
				ecstasy	3
				LSD	1
	2001-2002	4	Persons reporting drug use during the past month in the current prison. Comment: survey in 31 prisons in a representative sample of male and female remanded and sentenced prisoners (n= 2266).	any illicit drug	25
				cannabis	19
				cocaine	1
				crack	2
				heroin	13
				amphetamine	0
				ecstasy	1
				LSD	0
	2001-2002	4	Persons reporting drug use during the past week in the current prison. Comment: survey in 31 prisons in a representative sample of male and female remanded and sentenced prisoners (n= 2266).	any illicit drug	16
				cannabis	9
				cocaine	0
				crack	0
				heroin	10
				amphetamine	0
				ecstasy	0
				LSD	0
United Kingdom (Scotland)	2008	11	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n=4318).	any illicit drug	26
				cannabis	17
				cocaine	5
				heroin	18
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	3
	2008	11	persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n=4318).	any illicit drug	48
	2007	12	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4692).	any illicit drug	30
				cannabis	19
				cocaine	6
				heroin	21
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	3
	2007	12	persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4692).	any illicit drug	51
	2006	13	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4778).	any illicit drug	29
				cannabis	20
				cocaine	6
				heroin	21
				amphetamines	2
				ecstasy	3
	2006	13	persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4778).	any illicit drug	50
	2005	14	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4831).	any illicit drug	34
				cannabis	77
				cocaine	14
				heroin/opiates	69
				amphetamines	4
				ecstasy	9
	2005	14	persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4831).	any illicit drug	50
	2004	15	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4793).	any illicit drug	50
				cannabis	78
				cocaine	14
				heroin	63
				amphetamines	6
				ecstasy	12
	2004	15	persons reporting lifetime drug use in prison Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4793).	any illicit drug	55
	2003	16	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: national survey in 16 prisons among all prisoners available at the time of the survey (n= 4741).	any illicit drug	32
				cannabis	24
				cocaine/crack	6
				heroin/methadone/other opiates	21
				amphetamines	5
Norway	2002	2	Persons reporting drug use during the current imprisonment. Comment: national survey in all 52 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1074).	any illicit drug	26-38

Notes:

(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.

Sources:

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

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