Drug Use Forecasting: Fourth Quarter, 1991

• NCJ Number: 136045
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 12 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Annual/Periodic); Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

The National Institute of Justice Drug Use Forecasting Program, based on data collected from male booked arrestees in 24 sites nationwide, is designed to measure recent drug use among arrestees as well as trends in drug use among this subpopulation. In 21 of these sites, data are collected from female arrestees and in 12 sites, data are collected from male juvenile arrestees.

Abstract

During the fourth quarter of 1991, data were collected at all 24 sites. The percentage of male subjects who tested positive for drug use ranged from 28 percent to 77 percent. In nearly all the sites, cocaine remained the prevalent drug of use. Among females, the percentage of users ranged from 36 percent to 77 percent and cocaine was the preferred drug in all but two sites. The findings showed that marijuana use has decreased among male adult and juvenile arrestees. A 3-year report on DUF results in St. Louis indicated that trends in use for all drugs were stable, and that cocaine remained the drug of choice for arrestees. Self-reported information suggested that smoking crack accounted for a majority of cocaine use. Other factors discussed include trends in marijuana use, drug dependency and treatment issues, and the relationship between offense type and drug use. 2 tables