Description of study sample
The thirty-five workers who participated in this study were between 15 and 40 years old with a mean age of 28.2 years. Due to a lack of access to women worker who were drug users, this study was conducted among male workers only. (34.2%) of them were 15 to 25 years old. More than half of the workers (57.1 %,) had completed secondary or high school, (62.8%, of them were contract workers, Also, 57.1%, were married. (Table 1). Opium (57.1%) was the most common drug used by the workers. (4, 11.4%) of workers had a history of injection drug use (Table 2).
The themes extracted from the experiences of the participants
Based on the all interviews, five themes were extracted from the data. In this study, 529 primary codes and 283 main codes were extracted, and after a detailed survey, 18 main categories and five themes were extracted, including personal factors, job factors, structural factors, cultural factors, and family factors.
Theme #1: individual factors
High rate of unemployment in small cities and less developed provinces, failure to recognize job opportunities and the proper grounds and low economic growth rate convince many to migrate to large cities and to live in slum areas that are characterized with cultural and social poverty, and being a good ground for crime and drug addiction. According to the participants, the majority of migrant workers only took opium, hashish, and cigarette occasionally before their migration. After migration to larger cities, feelings of loneliness, the absence of family members, the easy access to drugs, the proliferation through mass media about the good effects of these drugs on solving sexual problems, and the lack of information about the damages caused by drugs, lured workers to become regular users.
Personal factors prepared the ground for drug use in workplace. Factors such as feeling homesick, losing support, lack of adequate income, poor physical and spiritual conditions, low education level, and lack of adequate information all have vital influence on drug use behaviors in workplace. This theme contained several subcategories: emotional factors, physical factors, financial factors, information factors, and personal capabilities factors. positive and negative emotional feelings and lack of skills to manage these feelings in some of the works leading to drug use. Such as, feelings of homesickness, hopelessness and impatience had adverse effects on the workers who work away from their families. Also, workers economic, mental, and family condition are among the factors that prepare the ground for development of drug addiction at work.
“Living away from my family and in a small room with a few other guys makes me more sensitive. I miss my old mother; I have not been able to visit my family in the past two months.” (P3; 32 years old, single, , a construction worker ,high school education, a heroin user).
“After the working hours, I had to stay in the half-built building. I did not have a good living condition at that time. I lived almost like homeless, the cold weather, homesickness, and seeing no familiar face made me depress so, I found a solution in using drugs and hanging around with my colleagues.” (P7; 25 years old, married, high school education, divorced, primary a heroin user).
“I had no idea about drugs when I was at my hometown, but working in Tehran taught me all about drugs. One of the colleagues gave me Tramadol and a bit after, another one invited me to test opium.I really enjoyed it. Living alone made me a drug addict because I had no one to control me. I spent my money freely for drugs and each time I tried a new drug.” (P6; 45 years old, married, college education, a crack-heroin user).
“When my colleague offered me Hashish, I had no idea that I might become a drug addict. I became familiar with other types of drugs at work.” (P17; 45 years old, a public service worker married, high school, a crack-heroin user).
“In the early days, I had to carry out heavy cement sacks and do heavy work. To kill the physical pain, my colleagues recommended opium.” P8; 34 years old, primary school education, divorced, heroin user"
Theme #1: Job factor
Job factors related to the work place have a role to drugs use. The pressure of peers who use drugs , easy access to drugs at work, heavy work, stressful condition like lack of jab security, lack of interest in job, injustice at work and lack of implementation of anti-drug regulations, monotonous work condition, wrong beliefs about drug (that it is good to improve performance and strength),
“Imagine working for 12 hours every day with a very hot machine and three obligatory overnight shifts. Do you see any other way than taking drugs in this situation? At first, I used drugs occasionally to stay awake overnight, but gradually I began to use the drug every day before work, and during and between shifts” (P8; 28 years old, primary school education, single, opium user).
“My boss is very bad behavior with me. I do not know why he always has a problem with me. No matter how hard I work, my overtime work salary is less than others. I would not stay here if it was not for my family. I consume more drugs after a quarrel with him. A friend of mine brought crystal to the workshop and told that it causes no addiction and things like that to convince me to use it. I accepted to take it. At first, I used it only once a week, but now it is a regular habit.
I used crystal for the first time in Tehran when I was working in a restaurant. A guy taught me how to use it; at that time, crystal was not common in Kurdistan. Using drugs was a way to gain more strength to stand the long working hours from 7 am to 1 am. When you work in another city away from your family, there is a high risk of becoming a drug addict, especially when there are other drug addicts in the workplace.”
" P10; 41 years old, married, high school education, a crack-heroin user).
Structural factors
There are several factors at this theme including legal and regulating system, facilities, and availability of drugs. The majority of the participants mentioned the importance of the employer’s supervision at the workplace. It seems that there is no well-codified program to prevent drug addiction even at labor-related organizations.
“My friends and I used to take drugs after work or late at night. The employer was aware of it. I believe that he also was a consumer. Still, he insisted that we should not use drugs in the presence of other workers.” (P11; 29 years old, high school education, married, opium user)
“There must be more strict supervision on drug use at work. The workers must be tested regularly and occasionally to find and fire drug addicts and the boss should provide healthy enviroment and without drug for workers" P8; 28 years old, primary school education, single, opium user).
Cultural Factors
Factors like beliefs and thoughts and cultural condition are effective in the expansion of drugs in workplace. Wrong beliefs about drugs like that it is good for strengths and staying sharp were effective in drug addiction among workers. According to the participants, weak religious and spiritual beliefs are also effective to become a drug addicted.
“I heard from my colleague drug use make us awake all the night when we worked overnight and it not us addict.” P10; 41 years old, married, high school education, a crack-heroin user).
Maybe if I had a stronger belief in God, I would not become a drug addict. People lose their God and then become a drug addict. "p13, 23years old. Single. University education, opium user)
The media and TV should inform people about drug addiction before they become one. I have never seen and heard anyone teaching anything about drugs at work.”
(P10; 41 years old, married, high school education, a crack-heroin user)
Family factors
Lack of financial and emotional support and family atmosphere have a notable effect on the development of drug abuse behaviors. In most of the cases, living away from family, losing family support, and having history of drug use in the family was very effective in the development of drug addiction.
“I barely contact my family, and I have not been in Kurdistan since the New Year Holiday. The telephone is the only way to communicate. Sometimes I miss my mother. If I would still live with my family, many of the current problems would not exist. At least, I am sure that I would not be a drug addict. .” (P7; 25 years old, married, high school education, divorced, primary a heroin user).
"I have five brothers and two sisters; three of my brothers are occasional drug users, and one of them uses crystal. As far as I remember, there was always somebody in the house using drugs.”
"p13, 23years old. Single. University education, opium user"