Opioids use in male population referred for mandatory urine opioid screen before marriage in Shiraz-Iran

Objective: to assess the prevalence of opioid abuse in a sample of male population in shiraz,iran. methods: a representative sample of 1219 subjects (aged 16 years or older) who were referred for urine opioid screen (uos) as a mandatory test before marriage in shiraz in 2005 were enrolled in this study. results: mean age of the participants was 26.17 years (sd=6.12),ranging from 16 to 75 years. from them,121 participants (9.93%) had positive urine opioid test. they were retested at least few days later by thin layer chromatography (tlc). the results showed that 22 (1.80%) had positive urine opioid test (based on tlc),whose mean age was 25.7 years,ranging from 19 to 32 years. conclusion: it can be concluded that at least 1.80% of men referred for uos as a mandatory test before marriage used opioids. these results should be considered when preventive and therapeutic programs are being planned.