The NZ Arrestee Drug Use Monitoring (NZADUM) 2011 annual report is available on the Police website at http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/resources/new-zealand-arre...
The NZ-ADUM study monitors recent trends in alcohol and drug use among police detainees and investigates the role alcohol and drug use plays in criminal offending.
The 2011 NZ-ADUM interviewed 828 police detainees at Whangarei, Auckland Central, Wellington Central and Christchurch Central police watch houses about their drug use and criminal offending. The 2011 NZ-ADUM report compares findings from 2011 survey with the previous 2010 research. Completion of the 2011 survey was delayed by the Christchurch earthquakes.
Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess says the report collects data about a core group of people who have significant issues with drug use and are coming into regular contact with Police.
“Half of the detainees were using alcohol or at least one illegal drug at the time of their arrest."
“The detainees had been arrested an average of three times in the previous 12 months, with a small number arrested on numerous occasions”
While the data is only collected from a small group of users, it is useful for analysis and intelligence for Police and The National Drugs Intelligence Bureau and to inform policy development across the government sector.
All detainees volunteer to take part in the study and their information is confidential.
Other key findings from the research include:
Alcohol
41% of the police detainees had been drinking alcohol at the time of their arrest and 21% had been using a drug other than alcohol at the time of their arrest
Methamphetamine
The proportion of detainees who had been using methamphetamine prior to their arrest increased from 3% in 2010 to 5% in 2011.
These findings should be interpreted with caution as they may reflect the greater enforcement focus on methamphetamine in recent months rather than any increase in methamphetamine use among the offender population
Ecstasy
The proportion of detainees who had used ecstasy in the previous 12 months increased from 22% in 2010 to 28% in 2011, and the number of days on which ecstasy was used in the past year increased from 11 days in 2010 to 15 days in 2011
Cannabis
Seventy-five percent of the detainees had used cannabis in the previous 12 months in 2011. Thirty-five percent of the cannabis using detainees felt they were dependent on the drug.
Alcohol, drug use and offending
Detainees who had consumed larger quantities of alcohol, frequently used cannabis and often used methamphetamine were more likely to have committed a property crime and sold drugs in the previous month.
Arrest, conviction and imprisonment
Detainees had been arrested an average of three times in the previous 12 months, for a wide range of offending including: breach of bail, breach of parole, breach of protection order, assault, public disorder, theft, burglary, destruction of property and driving offences.
NZADUM is funded by Police and completed by drug researchers at the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre, School of Public Health, Massey University. Dr. Chris Wilkins can be reached at (09) 366 6136 or 027 242 2265
c.wilkins@massey.ac.nz.
Jane Archibald
Police Public Affairs
04 474 9442