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Drug History of Prisoners and Intensity of Drug Use
PhDr. Marcela Moulisová, Ph.D., External researcher
Abstract
Research was conducted on 600 prisoners. The article only refers to those who stated that they had ever used drugs. A total of 282 men and 157 women were involved in the study. Two groups of drug users were defined according to the intensity of their use, i.e., intensive (often used various drugs) and others, non-intensive users. In the sample group, there were proportionally more female intensive users than male intensive users. We examined when the respondents began using drugs, what were reasons for doing so, how they obtained the money for the drugs, what ways of obtaining the money for the drugs they preferred, what their values were, and what their family background was like. We further investigated what criminal activity the prisoners were incarcerated for, and what their motives for this activity were. These variables were viewed by gender and by the intensity of use, and connections were sought through statistical significance. All the observed variables showed differences according to gender and intensity of use. The results also show that childhood may be significant not only for the speed of onset of drug addiction, but also for its severity.
Keywords: research, prisoners, intensity of drug use, reasons for onset of use, motives of criminal activity, values, method of pair comparison.