Opiate addiction in Republic of Srpska: Characteristics and etiology

• Main Author: Niškanović Jelena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Univerzitet u Beogradu - Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju 2013-01-01
• Series: Specijalna Edukacija i Rehabilitacija
• Subjects: addiction; opiate; socio-demographic characteristics; etiology
• Online Access: http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1452-7367/2013/1452-73671304539N.pdf

Opiate addiction is a significant social and health problem with a negative impact on individuals' health and their social environment. The aim of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of opiate addicts in order to determine the social and contextual factors underlying the development of addiction. All health care facilities and therapeutic communities which provide care and help addicts are required to fill in the Form of treated addicts. The analysis included people who sought treatment during the period from 25th November 2010 to 21st May 2013 in health care facilities and associations for substance abuse treatment in the Republic of Srpska. The majority of treated addicts belong to opiate addiction (N= 241: 91%). Opiate addicts are mostly males (88.8%), while 11.2% of treated opiate addicts are female. The highest percentage of opiate addicts live in urban areas (86.7%), have secondary education (73.4%), 63.3% are unemployed, while 70.5% live with primary family. Predominant etiologic factor for the development of addiction is peer or partner pressure (29%), pathology of the family as family breakdown or alcoholism (19.3%), while on the third place is low self control (16.8%). For 19.1% of opiate addicts, delinquent behavior started before taking any drugs. The presented data confirms the importance of social environment, like low family control and presence of family pathology. The mentioned factors in combination with negative peer pressure can lead to risky behavior and potential addiction.