BENZHEXOL ( ARTANE ) ABUSE IN AN IRAQI FEDERAL PRISON IN KURDISTAN REGION

Methods Among inmates of one of the prisons in Kurdistan Region, 508 were interviewed for addiction on various substances (in the period from 15 th of January 2007 to 1 st of October 2007). Results The research found 146 (28.7%) of the 508 Interviewed to be dependent on substances. Artane was found to be the main drug that was abused by inmates. They were mostly young, single and were addicted on other substances with Artane. Conclusion Artane abuse is a problem in Iraq and Kurdistan Region that needs to be addressed by the medical, legal and social authorities in the region. Prisons are among the places that need to be looked at for this abuse.


INTRODUCTION
Artane (Benzhexol, Trihexyphenidyl, or Parkizol) is an anticholinergic drug which is used as treatment of the rigidity of Parkinson's Disease as well as to relieve the extrapyramidal side effects of antipsychotics.Younger schizophrenic patients on Fluphenazine were observed to become dependent on benzhexol (1) and it was used by those patients to relieve depression.As similarly a patient on Fluphenazine too was dependent on orphenadrine (another anticholinergic drug) because of its euphoriant effect (2) .Patient may feign extrapyramidal symptoms in order to obtain Trihexyphenidyl (3) .Abuse of anticholinergics, including Benzhexol in adolescents due to excitement and euphoria, were occasionally reported in the literature (4&5) .Trihexyphenidyl and anticholinergics were abused among prisoners in US (6) .Trihexyphenidyl was used in a patient with chronic schizophrenia for its euphoriant and anxiolytic effect (7) .Abuse of Benzhexol was seen amongst the disaffected and disadvantaged youths attending a psychiatric clinic, who reported that their use of the drug was motivated by its hallucinogenic and euphorogenic properties (8) .They reported on 21 benzhexol abusers where thirteen of them had appeared before the courts, seven on minor and property charges, six for violent offences, and nine had been imprisoned (8) .Anticholiinegics were found to produce abuse and dependence which are usually attributed to the drug's euphorogenic, antidepressants and energizing effects (9) .
In a study on Trihexyphenidyl dependence in Saudi Arabia, abusers of Trihexyphenidyl were compared with users and found to be characterized by being unmarried, unemployed, smokers and having past and concurrent history of multiple drug abuse, and genetic loading of mental disorders (10) .
A study conducted in Brazil Sao Paolo, on 21 Artane users and 16 ex users and was found to be single, unemployed, male polydrug users, who used Trihexyphenidyl in order to attain states of mental alterations, mainly hallucinations and deliriums.According to the users, jubilance and increased sociability are the main factors leading to abuse (11) .Benzhexol was used as a self medication by people in Hilla, Iraq to control aggressive outbursts, get high, to relax and to get rid of boredom (12) .Abuse of Artane (Trihexyphenidyl) was reported in psychiatric outpatients and youth who were not psychiatric patients in oxford.UK.The availability of meeting places for the abusers and the cheap price were encouraging the abuse (13) .Trihexyphenidyl abuse was also reported in a patient with a neurological disorder who was prescribed the drug for spasticity and deformity.The patient took massive amounts to relieve depression but became hooked on it (14) .Media reports from Iraq after 2003 suggested increased misuse of substances in Iraq.The number of overdoses and intoxicated patients admitted to hospitals increased and Artane was among the most commonly misused drugs (15) .A study from France reveled misuse of Trihexyphenidyl in male youth who misused other substances too (16) .The problem of Benzhexol abuse for their hallucinogenic and euphoric effect made the forensic toxicology laboratories in UAE to find ways of detecting this drug with Procyclidine in urine (17) .
The same problem was addressed in Jordan too because of the rising needs for detection of Trihexyphenidyl among other anticholinergics in urine or plasma (18) .The psychiatrists working in the city of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region of Iraq observed that some schizophrenics and other psychotic patients on maintenance antipsychotics were demanding Artane with their antipsychotics despite the absence of extrapyramidal side effects.A few patients were taking Artane without using the antipsychotics.Occasionally they feigned dystonia or other extrapyramidal side effects to convince the physicians to supply them with Artane.They showed outbursts of anger and aggression if they were denied the drug.The pharmacists in the city also reported a demand for Artane by some people without medical prescriptions.Those who demanded Artane from the pharmacists included people without previous psychiatric disorders and patients with psychiatric disorders who abuse it as self medication.Prisoners who were included in this study were referred to the psychiatric clinic in the same city for treatment of symptoms resulting from withdrawal of Artane as reported by the prison health workers or the prisoners themselves.The prisoners had scars on their arms because they harmed themselves impulsively when they were denied Artane.

DISCUSSION
The result of this study indicates presence of Artane abuse in Kurdistan region and Iraq.It is a relatively new observation with this extent.We used to hear about the odd cases occasionally before 1990.We think that a larger number of abusers are present in the community without being imprisoned.They are either not caught by police or not reported by doctors and pharmacists.The abuse of Artane started before the imprisonment as was found in table 2 and might have led to violation of law and imprisonment.Abuse of Artane and other anticholinergics was reported among prisoners in USA (6) but not to the same extent as was found in this study.The prisoners indicated that it was the euphoriant effect of Artane under the stressful prison circumstances that led them to seek the drug after learning them from the sources mentioned in table 2.
The presence of this number in about 10 months is not very large.Nevertheless, if it is compared with the years before 1991 as obtained from other prison records and mentioned by the prison authorities, it should be alarming to all of us in the region.The reasons for the abuse of substances in general was mentioned in the main study (20) which included the loose border control with the neighboring countries after the political changes in Iraq.However, we assume that cause of Artane abuse is rather national and the problem was imported to Kurdistan region from the centre and south of Iraq.It is also a cheap medicine and easily obtained by prescription and by hand.83% of the abusers were less than 40 years old which is threatening youth who are supposed to be bread earners for their families rather than being hooked on the drug or kept in prison.
The decrease in percentage of abusers as you go above the ladder in educational status might be useful in the plans for future solutions to this problem.This study should stimulate the researchers in the Iraq and Middle East to study this problem in more depth and get different specialties in an interdisciplinary work to find real solutions for this problem.