Using data from the criminal justice and health systems, this report examines trends in drug abuse in San Diego County (Calif), the usefulness of drug abuse indicators for policymaking, current strategies for addressing drug abuse and its consequences, and the relationship between criminal justice and health indicators of drug abuse.
Information was gathered by means of a literature review, a review of criminal justice and health statistics, interviews with criminal justice and health personnel, and a mail survey of elected officials and local task forces. Results revealed significant increases between 1982 and 1987 in crime, adult arrests for felony drug violations, drug seizures, and admissions to drug treatment programs. The usefulness of several data measures is limited by accessibility, timeliness, and gaps in the data sets. Both justice and treatment representatives reported several newly-implemented approaches to addressing the drug problem. Support was also found for expanding the Drug Use Forecasting program to use urine testing as a method of monitoring offender behavior. Findings indicated the need to refine official measures of drug abuse, establish a centralized data source, expand urine testing, and standardize and compile other indicators of drug abuse. Figures, tables, appended tables, and 47 references