The Sociological Explanation of Drug -Related Arrests (A Case Study of Mazandaran Province)

Illicit drug use has been a continuous problem in Iran despite efforts to curb it. Researcher has looked into the relationship that exists between influential social factors and addiction. This is a summary of an extended research on sociological study of drug related crimes in Mazandaran Province. The main focus of the study has been to identify and analyze the social correlates of drug related crimes rate. It is an established fact that drug addiction has been increased in Mazandaran Province in the recent years. The researcher has been designed on the base of response to this question "what are the causes of drug related crimes rate variations among cities of Mazandaran Province?" The research unit of analysis is city and all cities of Mazandaran Province between 1375 -1380 have been studied and analyzed. The hypotheses are based on research theoretical framework. The research method of study was longitudinal-comparative method, based on secondary data. The data were secondary, cross-sectional data that relied on the Police Headquarters data. The data were later transferred to a statistical program to conduct data manipulation and statistical analysis. In order to perform the data analysis the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 13 was used. The results show that there is a significant relationship between smugglers and drug addiction rate. A variable that frequently appeared as significant on the analyses was availability of drugs. Caution should be used when interpreting such significance since this variable is closely related to other variables and might be capturing the same effect as others. Finding a significant relationship would serve to establish the factors leading to problematic behavior and to improve existing programs for treatment and prevention. The findings of this study provide an insight as to other concurrent factors that affect illicit drug use. Theoretically, the study has been based on structural functionalism approach. The purpose of this study was to establish if there was an association between social factors in macro level and illicit drug use in Mazandaran province. Five of the hypotheses proved statistically significant, they include: effect of smuggler’s activity rate on drug addiction rate, effect of availability of drugs on drug addiction rate, effects of urbanity and availability of drugs on social disorganization, and the effect of smuggler’s activity rate on availability of drugs. The two hypotheses that were not statistically significant are the effect of the urbanity and social disorganization on drug addiction rate. Path analysis results indicate that availability of drugs, smuggler’s activity, urbanism and social disorganization variables are the most important variables for explanation of drug related crimes in Mazandaran Province, respectively. Several implications can be derived from this study one of such public implications is the modification of preventive programs designed to reduce illicit drug use.