Synthetic Cannabinoid Usage Characteristics and Perceptions of Addicts in the Treatment Process

Abstract

Objective: Knowing who consumes a substance, in what form a substance is consumed, with which substances it is consumed with, the frequency of use, the effects it creates on the user and expectations from the use significantly affects the effectiveness of the fight against these substances. In this context, with this social descriptive study, it was aimed to reveal the sociodemographical characteristics, adaptation problems, suicidal attempt and self-harm behaviors, synthetic cannabinoid (SC) use histories, patterns and effect expectations as well as the perceptions of SC users. Methods: The present study is based on the form containing structured and semi-structured questions created by the researcher and it was conducted through one-to-one interviews with 70 male patients who were receiving substance abuse treatment. Results: Based on the results of the study, 41% (n=29) of the participants were unemployed and 60% (n=42) of them dropped out of school. They encountered problems such as being invalid out of the army (7.1%) and discipline (17.1%) during their military service. And it was observed that there were 71 crimes that 51 of the participants were associated with. The first drug used by the 12.5% (n=9) of the participants was SC. 24% (n=17) of them applied to the emergency department due to negative side effects they experienced due to SC use. 5.7% of the participants had little or no hope that they would be able to stop using SC. As a result, it was observed that the participants had problems in adaptation to education and military service processes, experienced intense legal problems, and had health problems due to substance effects. It is believed that both the improvement of preventive/therapeutic studies and inform health and legal pesonelle about the users and effects of synthetic cannabinoids is substantial.