LAR-pasienter i norske fengsler - En beskrivelse av innsatte i LAR-behandling i fengsler i Norge

Abstract

Background: Prisons have a high occurrence of opioid abuse among inmates. Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is effective and is regarded as the gold standard treatment in managing opioid dependence in Norway. There is a huge amount of literature and studies regarding OMT and its beneficial outcomes, such as decreased drug overdose mortality risk and criminal behaviour. However, less is known about inmates participating in the OMT program in Norway regarding criminality, drug use and physical and mental health. Objective: The issue to be addressed in this thesis is: What characterizes inmates participating in the opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) programme in Norway relative to other inmates, with special focus on demographical charactistics, physical health, criminality and drug use? Methods: This thesis is based on self-reported data from the NorMA study which investigated a broad range of aspects regarding inmates in Norwegian prisons. We processed the results using the statistical software program SPSS and defined a new group consisting of the inmates who participated in OMT program during imprisonment, as focus for our analysis. Furthermore, we compared the group with the rest of the respondents regarding variables such as demography, criminal behaviour, health, drug use and treatment. Results: We found that most inmates participating in the OMT program were men and older than the rest of the respondents imprisoned. The OMT group was significantly less educated and significantly fewer of them reported paid work as their main income. The prevalence of hepatitis B and/or C was significantly higher. Lastly, the proportion of OMT patients with a drug use pattern above the limit corresponding to harmful drug use before imprisonment was significantly greater. Conclusion: Our analysis shows that patients participating in the OMT programme in Norwegian prisons constitute a particularly vulnerable group, with less degree of community participation and an unstable lifestyle including factors such as comprehensive drug use and poorer health.