U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Drug Use Monitoring in Australia: 2009-10 Report on Drug use Among Police Detainees

NCJ Number
238294
Author(s)
Josh Sweeney; Jason Payne
Date Published
2012
Length
164 pages
Annotation
This report from the Australian Institute of Criminology presents data on drug use among police detainees in Australia for the period 2009-2010.
Abstract
Key findings from this report on drug and alcohol use among Australian police detainees include the following: in 2009-2010, 23 percent of detainees tested positive for benzodiazepines, 46 percent tested positive for cannabis, 2 percent of detainees tested positive for cocaine, 13 percent tested positive for heroin, 16 percent tested positive for amphetamines, between 1 and 3 percent tested positive for MDMA (ecstasy), and 6 percent of detainees tested positive for methadone; both heroin and amphetamine use showed considerable variation between the testing sites; 47 percent of adult detainees reported drinking alcohol in the 48 hours before their arrest, with 14 standard drinks being the average amount of alcohol consumed on the last occasion; and at the time of their arrest, 14 percent of detainees who had used at least 1 illicit drug in the previous 12 months reported being in drug or alcohol treatment at the time of their arrest. This report from the Australian Institute of Criminology presents data on drug and alcohol use among police detainees in Australia for the period 2009-2010. Data for the report were obtained as part of the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program. Information contained in the report includes national figures on drug use among police detainees for 2009-2010, data on drug use among juvenile detainees, and survey findings for each of the nine DUMA sites: Adelaide, Bankstown, Brisbane, Darwin, East Perth, Footscray, Kings Cross, Parramatta, and Southport. 143 tables, 147 figures, 17 references, and 2 appendixes