Consciousness of drug abuse problems and motivational intention for primary community intervention among the community residents]

PROBLEM: An influence of the community factor has a tremendous significance over the policy taken for the social rehabilitation of drug addicts as well as for the prevention of the drug problems. This study focuses, from a sociological viewpoint, on attitudes and consciousness of the community residents on drug abuse problems, particularly addressing their motivational intention of primary intervention in the community settings. METHOD: A social investigation with a random sampling of the adult male population of a ward community in Osaka was conducted by combining the self-administered schedule method and the individual interview method at the door. RESULTS: 1) More than 90% of the respondents recognized the drug abuse problem in Japan as one of the most severe social problems; 2) as for countermeasures against the drug problems, crack-down by police and severe legal punishments were much more preferred overwhelmingly to the soft measures such as education, therapy and social services; 3) ex-patients of drug abuse and dependence discharged from mental hospitals would be supposed to be faced with harsh, rejective interactions in their community life; 4) 15.4% of the respondents reported their recognition of the illegal drug users in the last three years prior to the survey and those reporting the recognition in their life time were found by 26.5%; 5) the active motivation for primary intervention with drug users on the community basis was widely shared among the community residents. DISCUSSION: It was implied that this motivational asset excavated in the community should be activated in one way or another by community programs for the primary prevention against drug abuse.