Methamphetamine becomes second-most used drug in Turkey, shows police survey

Photo: AA/File

Click to read the article in Turkish

Cannabis and methamphetamine were the most widely used drugs in Turkey last year, according to a new report by the narcotics police.

As part of a project to identify the reasons for drug-related crimes and risk factors, the police surveyed 31,406 out of 278,882 people who faced legal action in 2022.

Women made up 6.2 percent of the respondents who answered 77 questions. Less than 4 percent of the respondents had a bachelor's degree, while 30.2 of them were primary school graduates and 1.3 percent were illiterate.

According to the survey results, 49.2 percent of the respondents used cannabis, 24.9 percent used methamphetamine, 6.8 percent used heroin, 5.9 percent used "synthetic medicine," and 4.3 percent used bonsai.

Seventy-five percent of the respondents first acquired drugs from their friends or inner circle and 23.8 percent said they bought drugs.

Nearly 59 percent said they had a regular job while 27.6 percent were unemployed.

More than 87 percent of the respondents were living with their families, 7.5 percent were living alone and 3.1 percent were living with roommates.

The average age for starting drugs was 21.99. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents were in the 15-25 age group when they had started drugs.

Nearly half of the respondents said they were doing drugs at home, 21.1 percent were in abandoned buildings, and 13 percent were at their friends' homes.

Nearly 10 percent of respondents said they were doing drugs at least once a day and 28.3 percent said more than once a week. (AS/VK)