Aim

Use of various substances, including opioid use is often associated with coming in contact with the law- enforcement agencies. Data are scarce on the unique socio-demographic and clinical correlates from the Indian population. The current study aims to explore the clinical and socio-demographic correlations of law enforcement involvement among treatment-seeking adult males with opioid use disorder.

Method

We screened adult males presenting for the treatment of opioid use disorder at the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in North India. We measured law enforcement involvement by asking if the patient was ever apprehended by police, had any pending legal case against them, had any history of drug trafficking, or had any history of incarceration. We divided the entire study population based on law enforcement involvement versus no involvement. We compared both the groups in terms of socio-demographic and other clinical parameters. Binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to find the independent predictors of law enforcement involvement in this population.

Results

Out of a total of 204 patients with opioid use disorder, sixty-two participants (30.4%) had a history of law enforcement involvement, with all 62 of them being apprehended by the police at least once, 27 (13.2%) had a history of incarceration, 13 (6.4%) had a criminal case pending and 3 (1.5%) had a history of peddling drugs. We found out that high-risk sexual behavior, injecting drug use, and urban residence were associated with involvement with law enforcement.

Conclusion

Getting involved with the law- enforcement agencies among patients with opioid use disorders may be associated with high-risk behaviors. Legal involvement among opioid-dependent individuals may also be an impediment to the treatment processes, especially when such patients are incarcerated.

中文翻译：

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患有阿片类药物使用障碍的寻求治疗的成年男性执法参与的流行率和社会人口统计学相关性

目的

各种物质的使用，包括类阿片的使用，通常与与执法机构的接触有关。关于印度人口独特的社会人口统计学和临床​​相关性的数据很少。目前的研究旨在探索在寻求治疗的成年男性阿片类药物使用障碍中执法参与的临床和社会人口统计学相关性。

方法

我们筛选了在印度北部一家三级医院门诊部接受阿片类药物使用障碍治疗的成年男性。我们通过询问患者是否曾被警察逮捕、是否有任何针对他们的未决法律案件、是否有贩毒史或是否有被监禁史来衡量执法人员的参与程度。我们根据执法参与与不参与对整个研究人群进行了划分。我们在社会人口统计学和其他临床参数方面比较了两组。进行二元逻辑回归分析以找出执法人员参与该人群的独立预测因素。

结果

在总共 204 名阿片类药物使用障碍患者中，62 名参与者 (30.4%) 有执法参与史，其中 62 人至少被警方逮捕过一次，27 名 (13.2%) 有执法史在监禁中，13 人 (6.4%) 有未决刑事案件，3 人 (1.5%) 有贩卖毒品的历史。我们发现高危性行为、注射吸毒和城市居住与执法有关。

结论

在阿片类药物使用障碍患者中与执法机构打交道可能与高风险行为有关。阿片类药物依赖者的法律参与也可能是治疗过程的障碍，尤其是当这些患者被监禁时。