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)

From the Minister for Justice and Customs

The Australian Government's drug strategy, which has been recognised internationally in the fight against drugs, tackles illicit drug use on three fronts: health, education, and law enforcement. An important element of the strategy is to build and maintain a sound evidence base for policy development, implementation and evaluation.

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 all offenders. In recognition of this fact, the Australian government has continued to fund the DUMA program which provides high quality, independent data on drugs and crime.

DUMA not only provides important information on the link between drugs and crime but also has an important role as an early warning system for changes in local drug markets. It is pleasing to note that the upward trends observed over the last couple of years in methylamphetamine use appear to have stabilised during 2004. It is also the case that heroin use has not increased in the Western Australian, South Australian or Queensland sites. It is of concern that there has been a slight increase during 2004 in the number of heroin detections in the New South Wales sites in western Sydney, and the situation needs to be monitored carefully.

In recognition of the important role local communities play in crime prevention and reduction, the Australian Government has committed $58 million over the next four years to the national community crime prevention program with a specific funding stream for the western Sydney region.

There continue to be high rates of prior imprisonment amongst detainees and those who have been in prison have higher rates of drug use. The Australian National Council on Drugs recently highlighted drug treatment in prison as a priority issue. As imprisonment rates continue to increase, the successful integration of ex-prisoners into the community needs to be managed with the most effective programs available. To assist in community debate on this matter the Australian Government's Attorney-General's Department recently released a report on post-release programs.

An important aspect of DUMA is its capacity to provide police, policy makers, criminal justice practitioners and other professionals with timely data through its quarterly collections on emerging areas of criminal justice policy. It does this through asking additional questions on key issues. At the present time Governments are focusing on the issue of mental health and this report provides timely data on the high levels of psychological distress amongst police detainees.

DUMA would not exist without the commitment and cooperation of State and Territory police services. To date, the database contains invaluable research data from 16,611 detainees with urine specimens from 13,085. The fact that the majority of detainees in 2004 voluntarily agreed to be interviewed (90%: 3,834 detainees in total) and around 82 per cent (3,140 detainees) of those also agreed to provide a urine specimen is a tribute to all of those involved in the monitoring program.

Senator Chris Ellison
Minister for Justice and Customs
Senator for Western Australia