Trends in Heroin Use Among Arrestees in the Drug Use Forecasting Program

The Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program was designed to document trends in illicit drug use among booked arrestees in several major cities. A secondary analysis was conducted with data from DUF Manhattan for 1987-91 and for 22 DUF cities combined for 1988-89. The central findings which emerged from the study included the following: (1) There is no evidence suggesting any increases or sustained upswings in heroin use among arrestees; (2) Data document substantial declines in heroin use among arrestees; and (3) Heroin initiation remained relatively constant among heroin-using arrestees, although considerable quarterly fluctuation was evident. The impact of increase in supplies, availability, and purity of heroin (which may be transitory) remain to be well measured and systematically documented. A variety of possible interpretations for the decline in heroin use are provided. Tables, graphs, figures, references