Self-perception of drug abusers and addicts and investigators' perception of etiological factors of psychoactive drug addiction

The aim of this study was to compare investigators' perception of three most important etiological factors for drug addiction and drug abuse with the self-perception of heroin addicts and drug abusers who used cannabis products and/or ecstasy. The study included 207 heroin addicts (mean age, 26.7 +/- 5.8 years) and 238 drug abusers (mean age, 19.3 +/- 1.9 years). Each study participant selected the three most important etiological factors for drug addiction or drug abuse from the list in the Pompidou questionnaire according to his or her perception. An investigator also selected the three most important etiological factors for drug addiction or abuse according to his or her perception for each study participant. The self-selected factors were compared with those selected by the investigators. Heroin addicts most often selected hedonism as the first (n = 97 [46.9%]) and the second (n = 87 [42.0%]) most important factor for starting using drugs, whereas family reasons were most often selected as the third most important factor (n = 58 [28.0%]). Cannabis and ecstasy abusers most frequently selected hedonism as the first (n = 149 [62.6%]), second (n = 128 [53.8%]), and third (n = 76 [31.9%]) most important factor for starting using drugs. According to investigators' perception, family reasons were the first most important etiologic factor in both heroin addicts (n = 93 [44.9%]) and drug abusers (n = 144 [60.5%]). Psychological reasons were significantly more often selected as the first most important factor for heroin addiction than for cannabis or ecstasy abuse by both participants and investigators (P < 0.001 for both). Also, according to investigators' perception, the lack of knowledge was significantly more frequent as the second most important factor in heroin addicts than in cannabis or ecstasy abusers (55 [26.6%] vs 19 [8.0%], respectively; P < 0.001). Drug addicts and drug abusers considered hedonism the most important reason for starting drug use, whereas investigators considered family reasons to be the primary reason. Both factors seemed to play the crucial role in the development of both drug addiction and drug abuse.