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Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019
The Statistical Report Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019 summarises data collected for the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program between January and December 2019. The DUMA program measures drug use and offending among arrestees detained at police stations and watch houses across the nation. In 2019, 2,330 detainees participated in the DUMA program at sites in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Bankstown and Surry Hills in Sydney. Of these, 867 provided a urine sample for drug analysis.
- In 2019, 78 percent (n=676) of detainees tested positive to at least one type of drug and 44 percent (n=382) tested positive to more than one drug type.
- Detainees most commonly tested positive to methamphetamine (51%, n=444), followed by cannabis (45%, n=390), benzodiazepines (24%, n=207), opioids (19%, n=167) and cocaine (2%, n=16).
- Detainees also reported that methamphetamine was the most readily available illicit drug in Australia, with 84 percent (n=913) of users rating availability as high or very high.
- Almost half of all detainees attributed their detention to either illicit drug or alcohol use (45%, n=1,034). Thirty-three percent (n=760) of detainees reported that illicit drug use was the reason for their detention, compared with 16 percent (n=376) for alcohol use.
- Methamphetamine use accounted for most of the association between illicit drugs and offending, with 83 percent attributing their MSO to methamphetamine (n=629). Fewer detainees attributed their offending to cannabis, heroin or MDMA use.
- Methamphetamine use predominately contributed to drug (39%, n=62) and property (37%, n=215) offences.
The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr30
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