الفهرس 
History of Development of the Concept of drugOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
SUDs is a disease of mind that is associated with multiple co-morbidities as physical illnesses, psychiatric disturbances and criminality, in addition to the multiple morbidities as overdoses, relapses and cognitive impairment. Moreover, it affects different aspects of life as educational employment/functional, marital and social fields. Addiction is considered a medical disorder with legal implications; an addict is a very important medico-legal case. Aim of the work: to study the medico legal aspects of drug addiction among patients admitted at The Institute of Psychiatry (IOP), Ain Shams University (ASU) Hospitals over six month period from the beginning of July 2015 till the end of December 2015 regarding:
1- The Pattern of drug use among drug addicts admitted at The Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University Hospitals.
2- The magnitude of Legal consequences that appear to be as a result of drug addiction.
Methodology: A Cross Sectional observational study was performed among a sample of 65 addict male patients admitted at the Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) Unit – Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) – Ain Shams University (ASU) Hospitals and fulfilling the criteria of the research in the period from the first of July 2015 till the end of December 2015. Psychiatric history and examination based on IOP semi-structured interview and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) questionnaire were the tools used to achieve the aim of this study. Results: The whole sample committed 377 crimes with mean of 5.98 ± 2.5 crimes per patient which ranges from 2 crimes to 13 different types of crimes. 33.6% of total crimes committed were subjected to arrest and 3.9% of the total crimes were actually convicted, the most common crimes committed by cases in this study were: driving under the influence (DUI) in about 78%. Heroin addicts had the highest score at the medical domain in the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) in addition to the highest score of the final severity of addiction. Heroin addiction is more significantly correlated with incarceration and the length of its duration. Young age was a predictor of criminal behavior among heroin addicts. The younger the age of the addict and the younger the age of start using the substance the more crimes committed in the three drug groups, also the number of crimes committed showed positive significant correlation with suicidal attempts and non-fatal overdose incidents where the more often occurred the more crimes committed and with the ASI score (the more severe the addiction was the more crimes committed). Also, the number of crimes committed showed significant correlation with the presence psychotic disorder. The best fit regression model of criminality showed that young age at start of addiction and the suicidal attempts were the significant predictors of criminal behavior in this sample. Conclusion: Patients suffering from SUDs are liable to suffer many health consequences, the most important of which are; non-fatal overdose incidents, suicidal attempts, relapses, psychiatric diseases and hepatitis C virus infection. Those Patients are also liable to be involved in many legal problems, so, addiction has a lot of medico- legal implications which deserve our attention and can be summarized on three axes:
o Criminal behavior.
o Suicidal attempts.
o Accidental incidents; in the form of non-fatal overdose incidents and RTAs (Road Traffic Accidents) due to driving under the influence.