NCJ Number
215573
Date Published
2006
Length
135 pages
Annotation
This report presents both self-report and urinalysis data from participating police detainees for calendar year 2005, under the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program.
Abstract
The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program is a quarterly collection of information from police detainees in seven sites across Australia. It provides an evidence base for policymaking in the area of drugs and crime. A summary of findings from the 2005 DUMA program include: (1) during 2005, 3,786 detainees were interviewed in the 7 sites, in which 81 percent provided a urine sample; (2) 84 percent of the detainees were males; (3) 42 percent of all detainees reported that they had used drugs prior to their arrest; (4) based on urinalysis results, cannabis continued to be the most commonly detected drug with few detainees testing positive to MDMA (2.5 percent); (5) in the past 12 months, injecting drug use was more common among heroin and methylamphetamine users; (6) in the past 30 days, 67 percent of all detainees reported obtaining illicit drugs; (7) of detainees reporting heavy drinking in the past 30 days and in the past 48 hours, 70 percent tested positive to at least one other drug; (8) of those detainees who self-reported using an illicit drug in the past 12 months, 12 percent were currently in treatment and 10 percent said they had been turned away from treatment; (9) detainees charged with a property offense were most likely to test positive to any drug at 58 percent; and (10)over 57 percent of all detainees had a prior arrest in the past year and 15 percent of all detainees had been in prison in the past year. DUMA significantly adds to the evidence base by providing a reasonable and independent indicator of drug-related crime. It allows for the identification of changes in drug use, as well as monitoring trends over a period of time. Tables, figures