Correlates of Drug Use among Offenders in Some Prisons in Ghana

• Date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Feikoab Parimah,Akumun T. Solomon,Sylvester Anthony Appiah-Honny,Jonathan Osei Owusu
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20964143
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20964143

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2021, Vol. 65(16) 1703 –1715

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20964143

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Article

Correlates of Drug Use

among Offenders in Some

Prisons in Ghana

Feikoab Parimah1, Jonathan Osei Owusu2,

Akumun T. Solomon2,

and Sylvester Anthony Appiah-Honny2

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.

Keywords

offenders, drug use, marijuana, robbery, prison, recidivism

Introduction

Models of Drug Use and Crime

Kaskela and Pitkanen (2018) noted that most crimes are carried out by individuals with

problems of substance abuse. They further suggest that criminality may account for sub-

stance use through association with subcultures, access to drugs or as a way of coping

1Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

2POS Foundation, Accra, Ghana

Corresponding Author:

Feikoab Parimah, Basic Research, Advocacy and Initiative Networks. P. O. Box WY 423, Kwabenya,

Accra, Ghana.

Email: feikoabparimah@gmail.com

964143IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20964143International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyParimah et al.

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