NCJ Number
193987
Date Published
2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report presents the first year findings from the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research program establishing the prevalence of drug use among arrestees during 1999 to 2000.
Abstract
The New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research program is a key part of the tracking research for setting baselines and monitoring the progress of the Government’s anti-drugs strategy. The program covers 16 locations in both England and Wales. The data collection cycle lasted 2 years, 1999-2001. This report presented summary findings related to fieldwork undertaken in the first eight sites during 1999- 2000. Six key points were identified in the areas of drug use and urinalysis, self-reported drug use, drug use and offending, and illegal income and included: (1) urine tests of arrestees indicated that 65 percent tested positive for one or more illegal drugs; (2) 29 percent of the arrestees tested positive for opiates and/or cocaine; (3) 15 percent of the interviewed arrestees were repeat offenders with regular use of heroin and/or crack-cocaine; (4) the average expenditure on drugs was highest of all for those using both heroin and cocaine/crack; (5) users of both heroin and cocaine/crack represented under a quarter of the arrestees interviewed, but were responsible for more than three-fifths of the illegal income reported; and (6) 40 percent of arrestees, having used illegal drugs in the last year, acknowledged a link between their drug use and offending. Tables