Characteristics of drug abusers in an urban community of Tanzania

Objective: Problem of drug abuse in Tanzania is serious and growing one. The thrust of this study was to identify core characteristics of drug abusers in Dar es Salaam, the biggest commercial city of the United Republic of Tanzania. Study design: Descriptive, cross sectional. Place and duration of study: The study was undertaken from July-September 2007 at three municipal councils of the city of Dar ves Salaam namely Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke each with a population of about 3.5 million inhabitants. Subjects & Methods: It was a descriptive cross sectional study; interviewing 1198 adolescents male and female aged between 20-40 years recruited on random sampling method. Statistical Analysis and Results: Descriptive statistical analysis was used. In this study, the highest percentage of drug abusers was found within age group of 21-30 years for males while in the females the highest user age group was less than 20 years. Employment status was 33.6%. Labourers with primary education were among the highest users (63.9%). Amazingly among literates the abuse was very low (7.4%). Regarding the marital status of respondents 57% were not married. Smoking was the commonest route of administered drugs accounting for 90.5% of respondents Conclusion: The study was a problem identifier of the magnitude of the problem in one of the biggest cities of Tanzania, which can be prevented if tackled prudently.