Introduced in 1999, DUMA involves police detainees at nine sites across Australia providing a urine sample and completing a voluntary questionnaire about their drug use. It was introduced in 1999 and has been characterised as providing -
law enforcement authorities and policy makers with valuable data on drug use, treatment and market participation, and the relationship between drug use and crime.Given that Australian governments do not snatch people off the street for mandatory drug testing - a counterpart of roadside breath testing of drivers - and do not systematically receive the results of drug testing conducted by employers DUMA provides some indication, if used with caution, about the substance intake of the overall population
In this year's report the AIC indicates that methamphetamine use fell in 2008 by five percentage points from the previous year to the lowest level recorded since 1999. 21% of detainees testing positive for the drug. The DUMA figures for heroin and cannabis use also declined: the rate of heroin use was 70% lower than when it peaked prior to the heroin shortage in 2000. Cannabis, the most commonly detected drug, was at its lowest point of detection in 11 years. Use of cocaine (1%) and ecstasy (3%) remained consistently low. (6% of detainees at the Footscray site tested positive to cocaine, up from 1% in 2007). Of those detainees identified as dependent on drugs, 38% were participating in a treatment program at the time of interview.
In 2008, 44% of adult detainees reported that they had taken drugs prior to committing at least one of the offences for which they were charged. Violent offences were most prevalent among male detainees (28%). Property offences were most prevalent among female detainees (36%). 42% of adult detainees who tested positive attributed at least some of their offending to their drug use, as one presumably would.
The new report features a new section on inhalants, glossed as showing that -
their use is not just a problem for remote Indigenous populations and that at some metropolitan sites, up to 17 percent of those surveyed had tried them.The report continues to show a considerable overlap between the heavy use of alcohol and illicit drug use. Three-quarters of male detainees and two-thirds of female detainees self-reported at least one episode of heavy alcohol use during the past year. The number of detainees dependent on alcohol increased from 32% to 34%between 2007 and 2008.
Aggregated across all sites, 23% of detainees self-identified as Indigenous, with
detainees from Alice Springs (99%), Darwin (68%) and East Perth (32%) most likely to identify as Indigenous. 3% of detainees at the Footscray site identified themselves as Indigenous. 13% of detainees were aged 18 to 20 years, 21% were aged 21 to 25 years, 19% in the 26 to 30 year cohort, 16% were aged 31 to 35 years and 29% were aged 36 years or over. 47% of the detainees had fewer than 10 years formal education, 18% had finished a TAFE course and 11% were currently attending TAFE or university. 5% of adult detainees reported having completed university. 32% of adult detainees were working full-time. 41% reported that they were unemployed, currently looking for work or not looking for work.
17% of detainees reported using a handgun to commit crime in the past year, 16%reported using a long-arm firearm, 12% reported using a military firearm and 21% reported using a knife. One-half of adult detainees had been charged on a prior occasion during the past 12 months. 15% of detainees had one previous charge, 20% had between two and four previous charges and 15% had five or more charges. 5% of detainees reported that they had served time in prison over the past 12 months for a drug-related offence.
