Table DUP-3. Prevalence of drug use within prison among prisoners, 1995 to 2004

Country

Year

Source/ ref. (1)

Definition and methodological comments (2)

Drug used
(and if any: restriction on base population)

%

Belgium

2003

1

People reporting having used illicit drugs during the last incarceration.
Comment: survey in a random sample of 10 prisons (over a total of 38) among on remand, convicted and social defence (psychiatric cases) prisoners (n= 886).

any illicit drug

 

33

Belgium

1999

2

People reporting regular drug use during previous and current imprisonments.
Comment: survey in two prisons (1 male prison + 1 woman section in another prison) among voluntary prisoners (n= 246).

any illicit drug

 

42

cannabis

 

37

cocaine

 

9

heroin

 

13

amphetamines

 

8

ecstasy

 

5

LSD

 

2

Belgium

1997

3

People reporting lifetime drug use in prison.
Comment: survey in one prison among on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 115).

cannabis

 

38

cocaine

 

15

amphetamines

 

4

ecstasy

 

8

Germany

1996

3

Drug users in prison (based on information given by key persons).
Comment: survey in one prison based on reports of pre-selected key prisoners (n= 16), doctor, pastor(s).

 

 

60

Greece

2000

1

People reporting lifetime drug use while in prison.
Comment: survey in 1 prison among on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 136).

any illicit drug

 

46

Greece

1995

5

Lifetime drug use in prison (based on self-reports and serum tests).
Comment: survey in 2 prisons among convicted voluntary prisoners (n= 544).

any illicit drugs

 

54

cannabis

 

5

cocaine

 

0.4

heroin

 

39

France

1997

4

People reporting drug use within the last year while in prison.
Comment: survey in 3 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 960).

cannabis

 

24

cocaine

 

7

amphetamines

 

2

ecstasy

 

3

Ireland

1996

5

Men reporting heroin use while in prison (current sentence).
Comment: survey in one male prison (one-fifth systematic sample) (n= 108).

heroin (males)

 

42

Ireland

1996

5

Men reporting regular (once a week) heroin use while in prison (current sentence).
Comment: survey in one male prison (one-fifth systematic sample) (n= 108).

heroin (males)

 

36

Latvia

2003

1

People reporting lifetime drug use in prison.
Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).

cannabis

 

28

cocaine

 

4

heroin

 

12

amphetamines

 

12

ecstasy

 

7

Latvia

2003

1

People reporting drug use within the last year in prison.
Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).

cannabis

 

15

cocaine

 

2

heroin

 

5

amphetamines

 

8

ecstasy

 

4

Latvia

2003

1

People reporting drug use within the last month in prison.
Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).

cannabis

 

6

cocaine

 

1

heroin

 

2

amphetamines

 

2

ecstasy

 

1

Lithuania

2003

1

People reporting drug use within the last year in prison.
Comment: national survey in all 14 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners at 31.12.2003 (n= 8063).

any illicit drug

 

13

cannabis

 

0.1

heroin

 

9.5

cocaine

 

0.03

stimulants

 

1

several drugs

 

3

Hungary

2004

1

People reporting lifetime drug use in prison.Comment: national survey in 11 prisons among a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609)

any illicit drug (adult males)

 

8

cannabis (adult males)

 

6

cocaine (adult males)

 

1

heroin (adult males)

 

1

amphetamines (adult males)

 

1

ecstasy (adult males)

 

3

Hungary

2004

1

People reporting drug use within the last year in prison.
Comment: national survey in 11 prisons among a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609).

any illicit drug (adult males)

 

5

cannabis (adult males)

 

3

cocaine (adult males)

 

0.4

heroin (adult males)

 

0.2

amphetamines (adult males)

 

0.4

ecstasy (adult males)

 

1

Hungary

2004

1

People reporting drug use within the last month in prison.
Comment: national survey in 11 prisons among a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609).

any illicit drug (adult males)

 

3

cannabis (adult males)

 

1

cocaine (adult males)

 

0.2

heroin (adult males)

 

0

amphetamines (adult males)

 

0

ecstasy (adult males)

 

0.3

Hungary

1997

2

People reporting drug use at any time during imprisonment.
Comment: national survey in a sample of all prisons among adult male prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 951).

any illicit drug (adult males)

 

8

cannabis (adult males)

 

2

cocaine (adult males)

 

1

heroin (adult males)

 

0.5

ecstasy (adult males)

 

2

amphetamines (adult males)

 

2

other drugs (adult males)

 

3

Portugal

2001

1

People reporting drug use within the last year in prison.
Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).

any illicit drug

 

52

cannabis

 

44

cocaine

 

26

heroin

 

33

amphetamines

 

10

ecstasy

 

10

Portugal

2001

1

People reporting drug use within the last month in prison.
Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).

any illicit drug

 

30

cannabis

 

24

cocaine

 

7

heroin

 

15.5

amphetamines

 

1.5

ecstasy

 

1

Portugal

2001

1

People reporting regular (everyday) drug use within the last month in prison.
Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).

any illicit drug

 

10

cannabis

 

5.5

cocaine

 

2

heroin

 

5

Finland

2001

1

People reporting illicit drug use while in prison.
Comment: national survey among a sample of voluntary HIV tested convicted prisoners (n= 825).

 

 

16.5

United Kingdom (England & Wales)

2001

1

Women reporting drug use in the current period in prison.
Comment: national survey among all prisoners (n= 301).

any illicit drug (females)

 

51

cannabis (females)

 

23

cocaine/crack (females)

 

9

heroin/opiates (females)

 

40

amphetamines (females)

 

1

ecstasy (females)

 

2

other tranquilizers (females)

 

18

United Kingdom (England & Wales)

2001

1

Women reporting regular drug use (weekly or more frequent) in prison.
Comment: national survey of female prisoners on remand and convicted in 10 prisons (n= 301).

any illicit drug (females)

 

27

cannabis (females)

 

4

cocaine/crack (females)

 

3

heroin/opiates (females)

 

19

other tranquilizers (females)

 

9

United Kingdom (England & Wales)

1997

4

People reporting drug use during the last time in prison.
Comment: nationwide survey in all 131 prisons (n =3142).

cannabis

(3)

19-46

cocaine

(3)

1-4

heroin

(3)

12-20

amphetamines

(3)

0-4

crack

(3)

2-8

United Kingdom (Scotland)

2005

9

People reporting drug use during the last month in prison.Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 1415).

cannabis

 

77

cocaine

 

14

heroin/opiates

 

69

amphetamines

 

4

ecstasy

 

9

United Kingdom (Scotland)

2004

9

People reporting drug use during the current imprisonment.
Comment: nationwide survey among all prisoners (n= 4792).

any illicit drug

 

35

cannabis

 

27

cocaine

 

5

heroin

 

24

amphetamines

 

2

ecstasy

 

4

United Kingdom (Scotland)

2003

10

People reporting drug use during the current imprisonment.
Comment: national survey in 16 prisons among all prisoners available at the time of the survey (n= 4741).

any illicit drug

 

32

cannabis

 

24

cocaine/crack

 

6

heroin/methadone/other opiates

 

21

amphetamines

 

5

Norway

2002

1

People reporting drug use during the current imprisonment.
Comment: national survey in all 52 prisons among on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1074).

any illicit drug

 

26-38

Norway

1997-1996

2

Inmates who used drugs once or several times while serving their sentence.
Comment: estimated by prison authorities on the basis of previous studies in prison and reports submitted by prison and visitation officials.

 

 

40-60

Notes:

Results of urine tests were not included in this table as they present specific methodological issues in relation to estimating the prevalence of drug use in the prison population.

(1) For sources and bibliographic references, the numbering refers to Table DUP-0.

(2) Caution should be applied when considering that a survey is said to be 'national' as this refers to its intended geographical coverage, but does not mean it is necessarily representative of the national situation, which would depend on any sampling procedures adopted. Note that the size of the prison population surveyed is not available for most of the studies displayed in this table, and sample sizes reflect different proportions of the population in different countries.

(3) Results are provided for 4 different sub-groups of population: male remanded, male sentenced, female remanded, female sentenced. Women and men on remand represent a small proportion of the prison population, and thus these groups were over-sampled. Ranges reported here represent the minimum and maximum values obtained across the 4 sub-groups.

See also 'General notes for interpreting data' on the Explanatory notes and help page.

Sources:

For access to sources and bibliographic references, refer to Table DUP-0.

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