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)

What is DUMA?

The Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program is a quarterly collection of information from police detainees in seven sites (police stations or watchhouses) across Australia. The DUMA program was established in 1999. One of the advantages of a quarterly collection is that information is provided to the sites and stakeholders in a timely manner (usually 4-6 weeks) to assist in the development of strategic responses to local drug issues. The DUMA program is unique in this regard.

There are two parts to the information collected: a questionnaire, which is conducted with a trained interviewer, and a urine sample that is tested for six different classes of drugs. Information collected from the questionnaire includes basic demographic data, drug use history, drug market information, treatment history and information on prior contact with the criminal justice system. Both the information supplied by the detainee in the questionnaire and the urine sample are completely voluntary and confidential and neither can be linked back to the detainee. For more details see Makkai (1999).

Although police administrative systems record the number of drug arrests they do not provide reliable and valid data on the extent of drug use amongst other offenders, many of whom are drug users. There is no other on-going reliable source of data on drugs and offending amongst this population. In addition, DUMA does not rely on self-reported information alone. Analyses have shown that a proportion of police detainees do not provide accurate information about their recent drug use. DUMA enables self-reported information on recent drug use to be cross validated with results of urinalysis testing. Urinalysis testing has been identified as a major strength of the program, as it shows objectively whether selected drugs had been consumed by the detainees within a specified period and allows for comparisons across time.

In addition to tracking changes in local drug markets, DUMA also allows for the collection of additional information on key strategic issues. Since its inception a number of addendums have been run as part of the DUMA questionnaire (see Milner, Mouzos & Makkai 2004 for a list prior to 2004). During 2004, the following additional addendums were run at the sites:

• Quarter 1: Weapons (all sites)
• Quarter 2: Drug Driving (Adelaide, Elizabeth and East Perth) and Drug Dealing (Bankstown, Parramatta, Southport and Brisbane)
• Quarter 3: Mental Health (all sites)
• Quarter 4: Amphetamines (all sites)

This report presents both self-report and urinalysis data from participating detainees for the calendar year 2004. It includes an overview of the characteristics of the detainees at each site, including self-reported drug use, prior criminal behaviour and treatment history. Around 82 per cent of all detainees interviewed provided a urine sample. In terms of the socio-demographic profile of detainees, most serious offence, self-reported drug use and prior contact with the criminal justice system, there are few differences between the profile of those detainees who provide urine and those that do not.