Broken family ties behind meth use

ANKARA

A report by the Security General Directorate’s narcotic department has unveiled weak family relationships are a major factor in methamphetamine use.

Examining the latest situation of methamphetamine addiction in the country, which affects the central nervous system and triggers many physical and psychological disorders, the department made remarkable findings.

In the report, which was prepared as a result of the research started with more than 6,000 participants in 2018, it was underlined that drug addiction was more common in men, while another striking point among the common features of drug users is that the majority of them “don’t have a job” and their “livelihood is provided by others.”

While the rate of methamphetamine use is high especially among workers, builders and tradesmen, there are quite a lot of people who show “domestic problems” as the reason, despite the high age of starting the drug.

The level of education was generally low in drug users, but it was revealed that this was even lower in methamphetamine users.

According to the study, while methamphetamine-related deaths accounted for 7.8 percent of overdose deaths in 2017, this rate was 46.3 percent in 2021.

In the study, which reported that the drug detected in 54 provinces in 2015 has spread to all of 81 provinces as of 2020, the amount of use has doubled only in the first seven months of 2022, reaching 8,600 kilograms.

The research also pointed out that at least 63.9 percent of the participants “had tried drugs at least once in any period of their lives.”