NCJ Number
201575
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 34-42
Date Published
2003
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study compared the results of urinalysis testing for marijuana with self-reported 30-days marijuana use among 33,313 juvenile arrestees who participated in the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program between 1991 and 1997.
Abstract
Data analysis was done in two phases for each of the years. First, descriptive statistics were calculated. Second, kappa statistics were computed to explore the relationship between marijuana urinalysis results and self-reported 30-day marijuana use for each of the 12 sites involved in the study. The majority of the juvenile arrestees surveyed and tested each year were male and between the ages of 15 and 17. The study found that the strength of the agreement between the objective and self-reported marijuana-use measures varied by jurisdiction. The sites in Washington, DC, and San Diego, CA, had the strongest levels of agreement; and St. Louis and Portland had the lowest agreement between the two measures. The relationship between the two drug-use measures was consistent across jurisdictions over the 7-year period. This consistency may be used to argue that urinalysis testing, a costly enterprise, may be unnecessary. This study advises, however, that although urinalysis does not have to be conducted for all respondents in a given time period, it should not be eliminated entirely. This article suggests how such a system of testing might work. 2 tables and 17 references