A new study from the University of Oslo has found that amphetamines are often used by men with physically strenuous jobs on the margins of the labor market.

One of the study’s researchers, Willy Pedersen, professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography and expert on substance abuse, was surprised by the findings.

“We connect drug use with marginal users. Amphetamine, however, is used by fairly conventional groups, with mainstream social values. It is a hazardous substance that is often used by ordinary people,”  he said in a published interview.

The study was conducted by Pedersen in cooperation with Sveinung Sandberg, professor in the Department of Criminology and Sociology, both at the University of Oslo and Heith Copes at the University of Alabama.

They interviewed 55 Norwegian amphetamine users. People who worked in jobs with irregular hours such as construction, the fishing industry, transportation or for cleaning firms were one of the groups that regularly used amphetamines.

An article about the study was published in the journal Deviant Behavior.