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The situation of injecting drug use in Lithuania was discussed on Wednesday during a meeting of the Seimas Addiction Prevention Commission. Adjunct Professor, Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Vilnius University, dr. Marija Jakubauskienė presented 2018 A survey conducted in late 2006 surveyed adults receiving services in so-called low-threshold offices in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Alytus and Visaginas. According to the researcher, the research data is still relevant.
It turned out that 80 percent. Injecting drug users are men. The majority (about 38%) of injecting drug users were in Vilnius, 20% – in Klaipeda, 15 percent each. – In Alytus and Kaunas, 13 percent. – Visagina.
Most are Lithuanian, 25 percent. – Russians, 7 percent. – Poles, 1 percent – Roma, and 3% – people of other ethnic groups.
Most of these people have primary or secondary education. 81 percent of these are people who have graduated from elementary and high school. Most of them (two thirds) are unemployed, about a fifth (21 percent) are working. A small proportion of them work full time.
Two-thirds of those surveyed have been in prison. Every second he reported that he had injected drugs while in prison. One third of drug users were classified as homeless.
Most are young
The researchers found that the majority of IV drug users in Lithuania are over 34 years old. A relatively small proportion of young consumers. 18-24 m. in the age group it is about 4 percent. men and about 1 percent. woman.
The majority of injecting drug users are in the 25-33 and 34-year-old age groups.
“Most of the consumers are between 25 and 45 years old. Age groups, that is, the population of working age,” said M. Jakubauskienė.
The researchers found that the earliest age people began to inject drugs varied from city to city. They are thirteen years in Vilnius and Kaunas, and fifteen years in other cities. The oldest age at which it started is over thirty.
The most common value in terms of age when answering the question of when to start injecting drugs is eighteen years – in Vilnius, sixteen years – in Visaginas, 21 years. aged consumers – in Alytus, 19-20 years. age – in Klaipeda.
Individual consumption experience varied. On average, people with an average age of about thirty-several years have a drinking experience of about twelve years. The minimum duration is one year. The maximum duration of consumption is more than thirty years. The most common is about ten years in Vilnius and many other cities. In Kaunas, twenty years. There are young consumers at Visaginas, where the most common duration of use is three years.
The most commonly used substances vary from city to city.
The study found that the main substance used is heroin (almost 60% of users indicated this substance), about 39%. took fentanyl, almost 13%. – amphetamine and methadone, alcohol, benzodiazepines, poppy extract – 2.4%, cannabis – 3.5%. surveyed.
In Vilnius, the majority (90%) of the respondents use fentanyl and 22% use heroin. Visaginas – 89 percent. heorin, amphetamine is second. The heroine dominates in Alytus, Klaipeda and Kaunas.
“Drug treatment is a practice experienced by at least every second injecting drug user in Lithuania. About a fifth of the study participated in supportive care programs.
Most of the users who have ever received treatment were in Vilnius, one in two users in Klaipėda and Kaunas, a third of the users had treatment experience in Alytus, about 40%. “Visaginas,” said M. Jakubauskienė.
About a fifth of users shared used syringes and needles
The study also looked at the behavior of injection drug users. It was found that when the last injectable drug was used, the majority (eight in ten) of users used sterile needles, such as needles and syringes, and two in ten did not use sterile syringes and needles.
They usually get syringes and needles at low-threshold offices or pharmacies. A smaller proportion receive them in low-threshold mobile offices, around 13% of them from other drug users and around 9% from a drug dealer. surveyed.
Most users inject one to three times a day, four to five times a day, about 17 percent inject, and more than 6 to 10 times, nine percent. consumers. A relatively small proportion are injected more than eleven times a day. Less frequent use (several times a week) is common in about eighteen percent of users.
Most (83%) in the last 30 days. did not share any writing equipment, about a fifth did. After about 11 percent. injected using tools other than their own, and they gave or sold used tools to another user.
One third of injecting drug users have overdosed in the past twelve months. Mainly due to the use of fentanyl and heroin. The majority (41%) of the overdose users were in Vilnius, 35% – In Kaunas, 23 percent each. – in Visaginas and Klaipeda, 8 percent. – On Alytus.
Most are sexually active people.
The study found that eight out of ten users are sexually active people. About half of the respondents had a regular partner (more than twelve months of the same), and about 10% had the same partner for six months. Of those surveyed, about a third of those surveyed had sex with a random person, about 30 percent. respondents had sex for money, drugs, or things.
The study found that only a third of sexually active injection drug users used a condom.
When examining the prevalence of the disease, it was found that the majority of users had been tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV in the last twelve months.
The prevalence of HIV is 21.2%, hepatitis B – 4.9%, hepatitis C – almost 86%.
“We see that among those who are infected with hepatitis C – 23 percent. They were also infected with HIV, 95% of people living with HIV. Were infected with hepatitis C,” said M. Jakubauskienė.
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