NCJ Number
219406
Date Published
2007
Length
159 pages
Annotation
This report presents self-report and urinalysis data from participating detainees in the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program for calendar year 2006.
Abstract
Select findings from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) 2006 annual report on police detainees include: (1) 4,555 detainees were interviewed in the 9 sites during 2006 of which 77 percent provided urine samples; (2) 84 percent of the adult detainees were male; (3) 47 percent of adult detainees who were charged with an offense in the past 12 months had taken drugs just prior to committing at least 1 of the offenses for which they were charged; (4) cannabis continues to be the most commonly detected drug; (5) compared with 2005, there has been a decline in the number of detainees testing positive to heroin across the 7 original sites; (6) most users purchased their drugs outside their own suburb and varied by drug type; (7) where the most serious charge was drunk driving, 85 percent had been drinking heavily in the past 48 hours; (8) those self-reporting the use of an illicit drug in the past 12 months, 14 percent were currently in treatment and 11 percent said they were turned away from treatment due to a lack of space; (9) just under a third of all detainees attributed some of their offending to drugs; (10) those detainees classified as drug dependent had the highest average number of charges in the past 12 months; and (11) consistent with previous years, adult users self-reported first using alcohol and cannabis prior to their first arrest. The DUMA program was established in 1999 and is a quarterly collection of information from police detainees in seven sites across Australia. In 2006, the number of sites increased to nine. The DUMA provides an evidence base for policymaking in the arena of drugs and crime. Tables, figures, and references