Drug abuse in Pakistan - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

INTERVIEWS WITH DRUG ABUSERS
Figure V.
Usual route of hero<strong>in</strong>
adm<strong>in</strong>istration
Inject
drug on a daily basis. It appears that overall the
users of these drugs are comprised of both a group
of <strong>in</strong>tensive users and a significant, but slightly
smaller proportion, of occasional users.
Smoke
Sniff
The mean number of days on which hero<strong>in</strong> was consumed
(27) <strong>in</strong>dicates that hero<strong>in</strong> use was be<strong>in</strong>g more
<strong>in</strong>tensively used by respondents than the other psychoactive
substances listed. Most (77%) of those
who were us<strong>in</strong>g hero<strong>in</strong> reported us<strong>in</strong>g the drug on
a daily basis <strong>in</strong> the month prior to <strong>in</strong>terview. This
figure was highest for the street users where 86%
reported daily use as compared to 75% of treatment
attendees and 69% of the prison sample. Just over
6% of subjects where us<strong>in</strong>g hero<strong>in</strong> on a once per
week basis or less. Overall these data suggest that
a highly dependent, chronic hero<strong>in</strong> abus<strong>in</strong>g population
has been accessed by this study.
Far fewer <strong>in</strong>dividuals were us<strong>in</strong>g synthetic opiates
but of these just over half (57%) were do<strong>in</strong>g so on
an <strong>in</strong>tensive basis (four times a week or more).
Intensive users of synthetic opiates were more common
amongst the sample of street addicts. Although
morph<strong>in</strong>e was only consumed by a very small number
of subjects, two-thirds of these were us<strong>in</strong>g the
Daily use of hashish was also common with 41% of
those us<strong>in</strong>g this drug report<strong>in</strong>g daily use <strong>in</strong> the
month prior to <strong>in</strong>terview, a further 34% were us<strong>in</strong>g
more occasionally and reported 10 days of use or
less <strong>in</strong> this period. Of those consum<strong>in</strong>g opium most
(32%) were us<strong>in</strong>g the drug regularly on five days a
week or more. The consumption of alcohol was more
varied but nearly all respondents (76%) who drank
were dr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g on two or three days a week or less
with only 10% five or more days a week.
In addition to <strong>in</strong>tensity of use, the route of adm<strong>in</strong>istration
(the way the drug is taken by the consumer)
can be an important factor <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluenc<strong>in</strong>g the amount
of morbidity and mortality that results from a given
level of prevalence. Data on the usual route of
adm<strong>in</strong>istration for drugs data is presented <strong>in</strong>
table 17. It should be noted that these data reflect
the most common rather than an exclusive practice.
For many drug types, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g hero<strong>in</strong>, drug <strong>in</strong>jection
is the route of adm<strong>in</strong>istration typically thought
of as result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the greatest levels of morbidity and
mortality. In particular, this method of use is associated
with the transition of HIV and other blood
borne diseases and has also been associated with
the elevated risk of opioid overdose. The <strong>in</strong>jection
of drugs is therefore considered aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> detail later
<strong>in</strong> this section.
Table 17.
Route of adm<strong>in</strong>istration (selected drugs only—percentage of whole sample)
<strong>Drug</strong> Swallow Snort/sniff Smoke Inject
Hashish/charas 4 96
Hero<strong>in</strong>