TABLE 5.3
Drug arrests by region, 2003
| Drug abuse violations | United States total | Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Total* | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Sale/manufacturing: | 19.4 | 25.7 | 19.2 | 20.1 | 15.9 |
| Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives | 8.8 | 17.1 | 4.8 | 9.8 | 5.8 |
| Marijuana | 5.5 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 5.3 | 4.2 |
| Synthetic or manufactured drugs | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 0.7 |
| Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs | 3.6 | 1.2 | 5.2 | 2.3 | 5.2 |
| Possession: | 80.6 | 74.3 | 80.8 | 79.9 | 84.1 |
| Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives | 21.5 | 24.3 | 11.4 | 22.3 | 23.8 |
| Marijuana | 39.5 | 42.3 | 51.7 | 46.3 | 26.2 |
| Synthetic or manufactured drugs | 3.1 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 2.6 |
| Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs | 16.6 | 5.7 | 14.7 | 6.9 | 31.5 |
| *Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0. | |||||
FIGURE 5.2
Crime index and drug arrest trends, 1984-2001
report contains information up to 2000 and was published in 2003 (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/adam/welcome.html). In 2000 the report surveyed arrestees in thirty-five urban sites about drug use in the past year and conducted urinalyses to determine if ten different drugs had been used recently (each drug has a different number of days in which it can still be detected by urinalysis). ADAM reported on drugs in six categories: cocaine (crack or powder), marijuana, opiates, metham-phetamine, phencyclidine (PCP), and "any drug," which could include the remainder of the other five drugs. The 2000 report states that "people who come to the attention of the criminal justice system by being arrested are more often than not users of drugs and/or alcohol." To support this claim, in half of the ADAM sites in 2000, urinalysis showed that more than 64% of adult male arrestees had used at least one of five drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, or PCP. Use ranged from a low of 52% of arrestees in Anchorage, Alaska, to a high of 80% in New York, but was consistently a majority of those arrested. In half the sites, at least 21% tested positive for more than one drug, with a low of 10% in Anchorage and Albany, New York, and a high of 34% in Chicago.
Though data on females was more limited, ADAM found that in half of the twenty-nine sites where data on females was analyzed, more than 63% of women had used one of the five drugs mentioned above. The rates ranged from a low of 31% in Laredo, Texas, to 80% in Chicago. For many locations and drugs, female arrestees were more likely to have used drugs than male arrestees. Two factors may explain the higher rates for women: fewer females are arrested, which may raise the rates; and females are more likely than males to be arrested for offenses that carry a high likelihood of drug use, such as prostitution.
Only nine ADAM sites survey and conduct urinalysis on juveniles (and only eight have results for female juveniles), but there were similarities at those sites, with at least 41% of juvenile arrestees at all sites testing positive for drug use. The highest use rate was 55% in Phoenix, Arizona. Consistent with the SAMHSA survey, marijuana was the most commonly used drug among juveniles. FBI data showed that juvenile offenses decreased 15% between 1996 and 2000, but that arrests for driving under the influence, liquor law violations, and curfew violations rose (to 36, 31, and 9% respectively). The charge faced by most juveniles in 2000 was a "condition of release" violation (such as probation), with the most common offense being larceny-theft, followed by drug possession.
Marijuana Use
Marijuana use among arrestees is high, according to the ADAM report; often one-third or more report using the drug within days of their arrest. In general, men were more likely than women to test positive for marijuana, and younger arrestees (fifteen to twenty-five years of age) were much more likely to test positive than older respondents.
Alcohol was the substance most frequently used with marijuana. However, respondents also reported using marijuana with powder cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, and PCP.
Overall, almost 41% of all adult males tested positive for marijuana in 2000, according to the ADAM report, whereas 26.7% of females tested positive. The proportion of adult male respondents who tested positive for marijuana use ranged from a high of 57% in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to a low of 28.5% in Laredo, Texas. The proportion of female arrestees with marijuana-positive tests ranged from 44.7% in Oklahoma City to 17.2% in Laredo.
Cocaine Use
According to the 2000 ADAM report, almost one-third of all adult arrestees tested positive for cocaine. Female arrestees were more likely to have used cocaine than male arrestees (30.9% of males versus 33.1% of females). Based on self-reports, female arrestees were more likely than male arrestees to use crack cocaine. Drug testing cannot yet distinguish crack from powder cocaine, so researchers must rely on self-reported data to track trends in crack use.
In 2000 the percentage of adult male arrestees who tested positive for recent cocaine use ranged from a high of 48.8% in New York to a low of 11% in Des Moines, Iowa. Male cocaine users reported recent crack use twice as frequently as they reported recent powder-cocaine use.
The percentage of adult female arrestees who tested positive for recent cocaine use ranged from a high of 59.2% in New York City to a low of 7.8% in San Jose. Participation in the crack cocaine market was reported by a higher percentage of females than males (23% of females and 15% of males). ADAM data suggest significant crack use among female arrestees in urban areas.
Opiate Use
The use of opiates—including heroin, codeine, and morphine—is relatively low compared with that of cocaine and marijuana use. Though current screening methods cannot distinguish heroin from other opiates, preliminary results from another project indicate that more than 97% of ADAM arrestees who tested positive for opiates were heroin users. Older arrestees used opiates at higher rates than did younger arrestees. In a few locations, however, the youngest groups were more likely to test positive. There has been recent concern that opiate use may increase among the young as the price of heroin decreases and purity increases.
Female arrestees were more likely than male arrestees to test positive for opiate use (7.2 versus 6.5%). Opiate-positive rates of adult male arrestees ranged from a high of 27% in Chicago to a low of 1.9% in the Charlotte metro area of North Carolina, while among adult female respondents, opiate-positive rates ranged from 40% in Chicago to 1.3% in Omaha, Nebraska.
Methamphetamine Use
Methamphetamine prevalence varied wildly by geographical site. In more than half of the thirty-five sites where ADAM tested adult male arrestees, prevalence rates were less than 2%, while they exceeded 20% in six sites. Sites in the West and Northwest had considerably higher rates of methamphetamine use than those in the Northeast, South, or Midwest. Surprisingly, despite reports of active methamphetamine production in, and trafficking from, Mexico, most sites along the Southwest border and in Texas showed considerably lower levels of methamphetamine use than sites in the West and Northwest.
A greater proportion of female arrestees than male arrestees tested positive for methamphetamine in most sites (1.6 versus 3%). Methamphetamine-positive rates for male and female arrestees were 0% at several sites, but Honolulu, Hawaii, had the highest rate of methamphetamine use for both male and female arrestees, at 35.9% and 47.2%, respectively.
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