Seoul (ANTARA News/Yonhap-OANA) - More than 80 % of drug addicts in South Korea were not advised by the judiciary to get treatment for their addictions, leaving a majority of them to struggle on their own, a report showed Monday.

According to the report by Jo Geun-ho, a professor at the department of addiction rehabilitation with social welfare at Eulji University, 83 % of drug addicts said they were not given legal advice to receive treatment. If provided with rehabilitation programs, 73.8 % said they would get treatment.

The survey was conducted on 523 drug addicts in rehabilitation centers, hospitals and correctional institutions nationwide.

Nearly half of those surveyed, or 46.3 %, were sentenced to actual jail terms, while another 32.8 % were put on probation or ordered to take classes.

The report also showed that 86.4 % of those receiving treatment had tried to quit taking drugs, only to relapse an average of 10.09 times.

Of those who tried to quit, 53.1 % said they tried on their own while 10.3 % said they asked for help from their families and acquaintances. Only 10.1 % visited medical facilities while 4.4 % went to counseling centers.

In fighting addiction, stress was picked as the most obstructive factor by 18.7 %, followed by sexual gratification (14.8 %), recommendations from others (14.6 percent), pleasure-seeking (12.4 %) and upset feelings (10.6%).
(T.A045/H-AK)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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