SUBSTANCE-ABUSE IN LEBANUM

This paper studies the expansion of drug addiction in Lebanon during the years of civil war (1973-1990). A social and historical review of the problem of drugs in Lebanon is presented as an introduction. The profile of the lebanese drug addict is studied in its various components : 1) The average age at hospitalization is around 30 years ; the first intake of drugs between 13 and 35 years (mean 20). 2) The sex ratio is 8:2 male to female. The war has especially affected men in their encounter with drugs. 3) Heroin is the most widely used product (80,5 %), often in combination with other drugs like hashish or cocaine. Only 17 % use it intravenously, the rest by inhalation. 4) There is a certain <<democratization>> of the phenomenon of drug addiction (23 % from the lower socioeconomic class). 5) A preponderance of drug addicts in the big cities like Beirut and Tripoli. 6) Only 20 % have an underlying psychopathology responsible for the intake of drugs (psychosis, neurosis). The war has been found conducive to the eclosion of drug addiction by increasing the prevalence of the products, the psychological fragility of the lebanese people, the economic crisis and the more permissive sociocultural context.