Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: addiction and drug abuse have many risk factors in community and individual attitude also causes much diversity in community perception and attitude toward addiction.

Methods: in this study we assessed attitude toward an addict in 42 addict men and asked about problems in their community and recreational behaviors. They were residents of a rural area in Babol city. In the control group we assessed the same parameters in 268 non addicts in the same area. All of the addicts have been using opium more than many times a week at least for recent 6 months. Data collected via a semi structured questionnaire through conversation.

Results: There was a significant difference between addicts’ attitude toward toward addiction compare to non-addicts’. Both addicts and non-addicts indicated that the first three community problems in their area were unemployment, lack of recreational facilities and addiction, in respective order. Answering questions about recreational activities, both groups indicated that there were no recreational facilities in the community.

Conclusion: In planning a preventive approach, there is a major role for attitude toward addiction in any community. The conflict seen in this study between addicts’ attitudes toward an addicted person and addiction as a community problem has it’s interesting feature. Recreation and physical and cultural facilities need to pay more attention as indicated by our study participants. This seems to have an important impact in prevention of many community problems as well as addiction.