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Veroordeelde drugsgebruikers en dealers in Twente : een evaluatie van een voorlichtingsavond over drugs en de gevolgen van een veroordeling

Kleiss, Jennifer (2008) Veroordeelde drugsgebruikers en dealers in Twente : een evaluatie van een voorlichtingsavond over drugs en de gevolgen van een veroordeling.

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Abstract:In the Netherlands the possession, the production and traffic in drugs is forbidden. An important goal in the Dutch drugs policy is to prevent (problematic) use. With regard to the existent user the policy is mostly aimed at restricting the health risks. In scope of this policy the city of Almelo (in cooperation with the court of justice, Tactus, Prof. Dr. J.J. Baneke and Dr. L.C.A. Christenhusz) organized an information meeting on the 15th of January for convicted drug users and drug dealers. They were obliged to take part in this meeting, in order to be considered for a 20 hour decrease of their punishment. The program of this meeting was seen as a pilot for future meetings. The program consisted three parts; a contribution of the public prosecutor, a contribution of a major or alderman and a contribution of Tactus. The participants (N=30) were mostly (former) speed users. On the 26th of April the second meeting was organized after the example of the previous information meeting in Almelo. This meeting took place in Hengelo. The group of participants was considerable smaller (N=4) and also the by them taken drug (cocaine) differs from the drug taken by the participants in Almelo. This research was aimed to evaluate the information nights in Almelo and Hengelo, and to give recommendations how these nights can be improved in the future. Besides that the research had an explorative character. It is necessary to know more about the participants to make future nights a success. Therefore the characteristics of the participants had a central role in this research. The main question of this research was: If the characteristics of the participants are taken into account, which improvements can than be recommended to improve the effects of the information meeting? 19 participants were willing to fill in a number of questionnaires and 14 people cooperated with a complemented interview. The following conclusions and recommendations result from the obtained data from the participants: According to the participants the total conviction process (arrest, lawsuit, information) should take less time. The opportunity exist that because of the long process the participants did not come in touch with drugs. Future research should be conducted in order to prove if this is the case. If this is the case it could be considered to endure the process, for example by a return day, one year after the arrest. The share of Tactus during the information night should become bigger. The participants should have the opportunity to really discuss with each other. The participants of the evaluated information nights seem to form a rather homogeneous group. The average age of the participants was 28 years and 79% was born in the Netherlands. 84% of the participants has a diploma and does gain money from work at the time of the information night. The average of the participants works 38 hours a week and the majority of them (58%) has not been in touch with the system of justice before. 86% of the participants originates out of an intact family (without a divorce) and 57% of the participants used drugs mainly on the weekend. At the average age of 16 the participants first came in touch with drugs. The majority of the examined participants already quitted using drugs before the information night took place. It seems that the arrest was a bigger reason to quit using drugs than the information meeting itself. The environment of the users seem to play a important role, as many of their friends also use drugs. The participants scored low on shame, average on hope and inclined aggression. The participants showed little to hardly any psychological complains. This is a particular finding because research shows that drug use often is related to psychological discomfort. Further research is needed to verify this. Al participants scored average to high on measures of hostility. In regard with this finding, consideration of adding an extra part to the information meeting is recommended. In this additional part of the meeting, the participants can be stimulated to take the first steps in dealing with their hostility.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/58898
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