NCJ Number
210032
Date Published
2005
Length
117 pages
Annotation
This 2004 Annual Report on Drug Use Among Police Detainees in Australia is derived from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program.
Abstract
DUMA is a quarterly collection of information from police detainees in seven sites across Australia. Information is obtained through a questionnaire that covers demographic data, drug use history, drug market information, treatment history, and prior contact with the criminal justice system. A urine sample is used to test for six classes of drugs. A total of 3,834 detainees were interviewed in the 7 sites during 2004, and 82 percent of these provided a urine sample. Forty-seven percent of all detainees reported they had used drugs prior to their arrest. Twenty percent of males and 36 percent of females tested positive for benzodiazepines, a slight decrease from 2003. Cannabis continued to be the most commonly detected drug, with 60 percent of males and 52 percent of females testing positive. A small number of detainees tested positive for cocaine. For heroin use, the average across sites was 13 percent for males and 19 percent for females, a slight increase from 2003. Averaged across sites, 41 percent of females and 29 percent of males tested positive for methylamphetamine, approximately the same as in 2003 after a steady rise in the use of this drug in recent years. Averaged across sites, 9 percent of detainees reported using MDMA (ecstasy). Twenty-one percent had used an opiate metabolite other than heroin, a decline from 23 percent in 2002 and 2003. Data and information are also provided on drug use through injection, the obtaining of illegal drugs, alcohol use, drug dependency, drug treatment, mental health, the most recent offense and its link to drug use, prior contact with the criminal justice system, age at first drug use and arrest, and juvenile drug use. Extensive tables and figures