NCJ Number
196757
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: 2002 Pages: 139-147
Editor(s)
Robert M. Huff M.P.H
Date Published
2002
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This research study compared rates of drug use in welfare-receiving populations to those of non-welfare-receiving populations with the objective being to identify the prevalence of drug use among welfare recipients following the comprehensive changes brought about by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).
Abstract
Since PRWORA was implemented, few studies have been done to identify the prevalence of illegal drug use among welfare recipients. The ADAM program was established in 1987 with the goals of identifying the levels of drug use among arrestees, tracking changing drug-use patterns, determining what drugs were being used in specific jurisdictions, alerting local officials to trends in drug use and availability of new drugs, providing data to help understand the drug-crime connection, and serving as a research platform for a wide variety of drug-related initiatives. In this study, done in 1999 through Houston's Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program, daily data were collected by trained research interviewers from 1,572 arrestees who had been in custody for no more than 48 hours, in interviews that lasted 15 minutes or longer and based on degree of drug use disclosure. The survey was followed by a urine test to evaluate the self-report data and to measure drug use. Descriptive statistics and chi-square statistics were computed. Drug positive rates were compared between welfare-receiving arrestees and non-welfare receiving arrestees living below the poverty level, and non-welfare receiving arrestees living above the poverty level. It was found that welfare-receiving arrestees were more likely to be female, older, less educated, and to test positive for opiates and benzodiazepines than the other subgroups. Two tables are included that show demographic characteristics and drug-positive rates. This study shows that welfare-receiving arrestees may be slightly different in their drug using behaviors than non-welfare-receiving arrestees living below the poverty level and non-welfare-receiving arrestees living above the poverty level. Implications for welfare reform policy are discussed, with the recommendation that welfare policymakers tailor drug prevention and treatment reform efforts to the needs of the specific populations. Tables, references