Juvenile Offender Population Urinalysis Screening Program (OPUS): Annual Report, September 2003

• NCJ Number: 214384
• Author(s): Sarah Canham; Jill D. Choyka; Erin Artigiani; Eric D. Wish
• Date Published: September 2003
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): VOIT 1996-1002
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; Maryland Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention
• Corporate Author: CESAR (Ctr for Substance Abuse Research)
• Sale Source: CESAR (Ctr for Substance Abuse Research)
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research); Report (Annual/Periodic)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded May 31, 2006.

Annotation

This report presents information and data (collected between September 2002 and May 2003) from Baltimore City and nine counties involved in Maryland's Juvenile OPUS (Offender Population Urinalysis Screening) Intake and Detention Study, which is a urinalysis drug monitoring program for juveniles processed by the county's Department of Juvenile Justice; project goals are to monitor changes in drug use and identify emerging drugs of abuse among juvenile offenders.

Abstract

Youths involved in the Intake Study were recruited at intake facilities. Across the nine counties and Baltimore City, these youths were more likely to test positive for marijuana than any other drug. Throughout the State, youths reported that marijuana was the most popular and most accessible drug in their neighborhoods and communities. In interviews, the youths indicated that ecstasy was also a popular drug among their peers. Many youths reported that dipping tobacco or marijuana cigarettes in PCP was growing in popularity. Participants in the Intake Study volunteered to participate in a 10-15-minute, semistructured interview that focused on drug use by their peers, but they were not asked about their own drug use. Voluntary, anonymous urine specimens were analyzed for 11 drugs. The Detention Study conducted drug screening for samples of juveniles recently admitted to State detention facilities. Across 7 data collection periods, 37 percent to 45 percent of the 3,481 detained juveniles screened for drugs tested positive for marijuana. Across all reporting periods, the percentage of youths who tested positive for marijuana increased with age; by age 16, almost 50 percent tested positive for marijuana. Nurses or substance abuse counselors obtained voluntary, anonymous urine specimens for juveniles housed in detention facilities. Only those admitted in the last 72 hours and who were not transferred from another secure facility were included in the study. Urine specimens were tested for 11 drugs. 12 tables and 1 figure