Drug Dependence Treatment Awareness among Japanese Female Stimulant Drug Offenders

Abstract

Few stimulant drug users receive adequate treatment. This cross-sectional study describes the characteristics of female drug offenders that use stimulants and clarifies the factors related to the awareness of treatment for drug dependencies. We included 80 females imprisoned due to stimulant control law violations from 2012 to 2015. The characteristics of the female prisoners were stratified according to various treatment awareness levels, and associations between each characteristic and treatment awareness were evaluated using logistic regression models. The average period of stimulant drug use was 17.7 years. Participants imprisoned for the second time were significantly more likely to consider treatment compared to those imprisoned only once: odds ratio (OR) = 3.2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0-10.7). This elevated OR was diluted in repeat offenders. Participants who had experienced multiple aftereffects (≥7) or serious depressive symptoms were also more likely to consider treatment: OR = 6.1 (95% CI: 1.8-20.8) and OR = 2.5 (95% CI: 1.0-6.2), respectively. Second-time stimulant offenders or offenders who had experienced health problems were more likely to consider it important to receive drug dependence treatment. To overcome relapses of stimulant use, it is recommended that stimulant use offenders are encouraged to accept adequate treatment.

Sex differences in the characteristics of stimulant offenders with a history of substance use disorder treatment

“…Age at the time of the survey was divided into four categories (the 20s, 30s, 40s, and ≥ 50s), which matched the age categorization used in a previous study 7 . The number of imprisonments was divided into three categories (1, 2, and ≥3 times).…”

“…Yatsugi et al 7 conducted a study involving 154 sentenced women who were imprisoned for violating the Stimulants Control Act. Participants imprisoned for the second time were found to be more likely to consider drug treatment as important compared with those imprisoned only once (odds ratio [OR] = 3.2).…”