Correlates of Drug Use among Offenders in Some Prisons in Ghana

Abstract

Among others, the study sought to find out whether being convicted of the possession of marijuana for personal use for the first time or multiple times, would predict marijuana, and other drug use within the past 30 days. Using a cross-sectional survey, two hundred and fifty three (253) male offenders were conveniently sampled from three prisons in Ghana. The average age of participants was 31.26 (SD = 10.19). It was established that those who had been convicted of the possession of marijuana for personal use for the first time were likely to have used marijuana within the past 30 days (OR = 4.15, 95% CI = 2.00, 8.58), and other drugs within the past 30 days (OR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.09, 5.47). Also, those who were recidivist robbers were likely to have used other drugs within the past 30 days (OR = 6.63, 95% CI = 2.55, 17.25). These, and other findings are discussed.