Drug Use Monitoring in Australia : 2004 annual report on drug use among police detainees

Carmen Schulte, Jenny Mouzos, Toni Makkai
ISBN 0 642 53880 8 ; ISSN 1326-6004
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology: 2005
(Research and public policy series, no. 65)

Executive summary - 2004

Profile of sample

• 3,834 detainees were interviewed in the seven sites during 2004, and of these 82 per cent provided a urine sample.
• 85 per cent of detainees were male, and nearly half (44%) were aged between 21 and 30 years.

Any drug use (excluding alcohol)

• 47 per cent of all detainees reported they had used drugs prior to their arrest.
• 10 per cent of all detainees said they were looking for illegal drugs prior to arrest.

Drug use (based on urinalysis results)

Benzodiazepines

• There was a slight decrease in the proportion of detainees testing positive to benzodiazepines compared with 2003. In total, 20 per cent of males and 36 per cent of females tested positive. Approximately half of these reported taking prescription benzodiazepines in the past fortnight.

Cannabis

• Cannabis continues to be the most commonly detected drug. Averaged across all sites, 60 per cent of males and 52 per cent of females tested positive to cannabis. Amongst males aged 18 to 20 years 69 per cent tested positive, whilst amongst those males aged 21 to 25 years 71 per cent tested positive.

Cocaine

• A very small number of detainees tested positive to cocaine. The Bankstown site had the highest number, with 16 detainees testing positive in 2004.

Heroin

• Compared to 2003, the numbers testing positive increased slightly in the Sydney sites, and elsewhere decreased. The average across sites was 13 per cent of male detainees and 19 per cent of female detainees tested positive. Overall, the proportion of detainees testing positive to heroin remains much lower than pre-shortage levels, but the increase in Sydney sites could be an early warning of increased availability and use in heroin. Sydney is the biggest heroin market and use/availability in other sites may increase at a later date.

Methylamphetamine

• The number of detainees testing positive to methylamphetamine has risen steadily in recent years, but appears to have now stabilised, with numbers staying at similar levels to 2003. The proportion testing positive to methylamphetamine varies across sites with East Perth having the highest rates and the two Sydney sites the lowest. Averaged across sites, 41 per cent of females and 29 per cent of males tested positive to methylamphetamine.

MDMA (ecstasy)

• While there appears to be an increase in the number of detainees testing positive to MDMA, the total percentage remains very small. In 2004 only two per cent of the sample tested positive to MDMA. Averaged across sites nine per cent of detainees believed they had taken ecstasy in the past 30 days, but half of these did not test positive to MDMA. Urinalysis indicated that in most cases the drug contained methylamphetamine.

Other opiates (including codeine)

• The proportion of detainees who had used an opiate metabolite not identified as heroin steadily increased from 10 per cent in 2000, to 18 per cent in 2001, to 23 per cent in 2002 and 2003. There was a slight drop in 2004 to 21 per cent. A much smaller proportion, five per cent of all detainees, reported taking codeine in the past fortnight as an over counter or prescription medication.

Injecting drug use

• Of illegal drug users in the past 12 months, injecting drug use was more common amongst heroin and methylamphetamine users, with 88 per cent of heroin users and 74 per cent of methylamphetamine users reporting that they had injected that drug in the past 12 months.

Obtaining illegal drugs

• In the past 30 days 71 per cent of all detainees reported obtaining illicit drugs, in the majority of cases from a regular source with the dealer usually contacted first by mobile phone. The drugs were more likely to be purchased from a house or flat, although with heroin it was equally likely to have been purchased on the street. Whether drugs were purchased outside the user's own suburb varied across drugs - cannabis 48 per cent, methylamphetamine 59 per cent, heroin 64 per cent and cocaine 74 per cent.

Alcohol use

• There is considerable overlap between heavy use of alcohol (defined as more than five drinks in one day for men and three drinks for women) and illicit drug use. Of detainees who reported heavy drinking in the past 30 days and in the past 48 hours 73 per cent tested positive to at least one other drug. Where the most serious charge was drink driving, 73 per cent had been drinking heavily in the past 48 hours. With both disorder and violent charges the proportion was 43 per cent.

Drug dependency

• Of those detainees who had used an illicit drug or alcohol in the past 12 months, over half were dependent on alcohol and other drugs. Twenty-seven per cent were classified as dependent on alcohol and 52 per cent on illicit drugs. Alcohol dependency was more common among males and those aged over 30 years.

Drug treatment

• Of those detainees who self-reported using an illicit drug in the past 12 months, 14 per cent were currently in treatment, a further six per cent reported they had been in treatment some time in 2004, and 10 per cent said they had been turned away from treatment due to a lack of places. Female and older detainees were more likely to report they had accessed treatment. Treatment type varied with drug type - with over half of those seeking treatment for heroin currently in methadone maintenance whilst those seeking treatment for amphetamine use were more likely to do so at an outpatient or counselling service.

Mental health

• Aggregated across all sites almost a third of detainees scored very high on the K10 scale (a survey measuring psychological distress), indicating a probable need for professional help. The higher the detainee scored on the scale, the more likely they were to be classed as dependent on illicit drugs. Females and those aged 26 to 30 years of age were more likely to score very high. The core questionnaire also asks whether the detainee has ever been a patient in a psychiatric hospital - aggregated across all sites five per cent had stayed at least one night in such a place during 2004.

Most recent offence and drug use

• Across offence categories, detainees charged with a property offence were most likely to test positive to an illicit drug (excluding cannabis and alcohol) - 61 per cent. In contrast drink driving had the lowest proportion - 20 per cent.

Crime attributed to drugs

• 37 per cent of all detainees attributed at least some of their offending to drugs (excluding alcohol).

Prior contact with the criminal justice system

• Over half (54%) of all detainees had a prior arrest in the past year and 18 per cent of all detainees had been in prison in the past year. Those detainees classified as drug dependent or who tested positive to methylamphetamine or heroin had the highest average number of arrests in the past 12 months.