Substance use is a global phenomenon that is particularly affecting the prison population. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of drug use among people in prison before and during incarceration in seven European countries and to compare it with the prevalence in the general population. Individual data collection was carried out between 2014 and 2018 with a model European Questionnaire on Drug Use among people in prison. A total of 12,918 people living in prison filled in the survey. People in prison report higher level of drug use when compared with the general population and the use of drug inside prison exist, although at lower levels when compared with predetention. Prisons can represent a point of access to engage individuals who use drugs in interventions that address drug use and risk factors related to both drug use and imprisonment.

Addiction Monitoring Unit Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia Riga Latvia

Department of Addictology 1st Medical Faculty of the Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery University of Pisa Pisa Italy

Directorate of Epidemiology and Public Health Sciensano Brussels Belgium

Drug Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department Vilnius Lithuania

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Lisbon Portugal

Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs Ministry of Health Consumer Affairs and Wellbeing Madrid Spain

Institute for Social and Political Sciences Lisbon University Portugal

Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology Warsaw Poland

Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction Lisbon Portugal

Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction National Addiction Authority Strovolos Cyprus

National Center for Prevention of Addictions Warsaw Poland

National Institute of Public Health Ljubljana Slovenia

National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addictions Prague Czech Republic

Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa Italy

Spolecnost Podane ruce Brno Czech Republic

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