Proposition for Drug Testing

• NCJ Number: 211889
• Journal: Techbeat Dated: Spring 2002
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1996-MU-MU-K011
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This report describes several drug testing technologies, in lieu of urinalysis, to assist California's Orange and San Diego Counties in meeting the growing caseload demands of drug testing under Proposition 36 which provides offenders convicted of nonviolent drug offenses supervised probation and drug treatment.

Abstract

Enacted in July 2001, California's Proposition 36 offers those convicted of a nonviolent drug offense an alternative: supervised probation and drug treatment. The intent was to decrease the workload for probation officers by sharing the monitoring duties with local treatment providers. However, the reverse has been true, with one of the most expensive tasks facing two California counties, Orange and San Diego, drug testing. To address this issue, criminal justice officials from both counties requested the Border Research and Technology Center (BRTC), part of the National Institute of Justice's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system, to initiate a workshop on current noninvasive drug-screening technologies. This report describes four such technologies that could eliminate problems inherent in urinalysis and include: skin patches and sweat tests, saliva testing, trace and portable detection scans, and pupil scans.