NCJ Number
210794
Date Published
2005
Length
120 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on drug use among police detainees in Australia during calendar year 2004.
Abstract
The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program gathers quarterly information from police detainees at seven sites across Australia concerning their drug use. DUMA collects information concerning drug use through a questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer and through a urine sample that is tested for the presence of six classes of drugs. The questionnaires focus on demographic information, self-reported drug use history, drug market information, treatment history, and previous contact with the criminal justice system. The 2004 detainee sample included 3,834 individuals; approximately 82 percent of detainees interviewed for DUMA submitted a urine sample. Following the introduction, the report presents an overview of the 2004 data, including information on detainee characteristics, drug use among adult detainees, trends in drug use, and treatment. The 2004 findings are also presented for each of the seven sites. Overall, 47 percent of all detainees in 2004 reported they had used drugs prior to their arrest and 10 percent of detainees reported that they were trying to obtain illegal drugs before their arrest. Urinalysis results indicated a slight decrease in benzodiazepine use among arrestees compared with 2003 data and only a small number of detainees tested positive for cocaine use. Heroin use, on the other hand, was up slightly in Sydney compared to 2003 but declined in the other six sites. Fourteen percent of the detainees reporting illicit drug use in the past 12 months were currently in drug treatment programs. Over half of all detainees had a prior arrest and 37 percent attributed at least some of their offending behavior to drugs. Similar data on juvenile detainees in Australia is offered; 93 juveniles were interviewed during 2004 and 67 percent provided a urine sample. Tables, references