[Patterns of heroin consumption in a jail on the northern Mexican border: barriers to treatment access].

Objective: To assess the prevalence of heroin use, patterns of initiation, intense use, and drug-dependency; also, to assess barriers to drug treatment access.

Material And Methods: The study was conducted in the Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua prison. Subjects were selected using simple random sampling from census of prison inmates. Barriers to drug treatment were identified and analyzed using a logistic regression model.

Results: The prevalence of heroin use for the last six months was 26.4%; 25.3% were intense heroin users; and 95% showed dependence. The mean age of initiation was 21 years. A multivariate model showed that the significant barriers to drug treatment access were: low education, withdrawal, overdosing, presence of chronic diseases, and duration of heroin use.

Conclusions: Study findings should serve to devise potential applications to establish treatment programs in prisons.