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Annual Report on Cocaine Use Among Arrestees, 1998

NCJ Number
175657
Author(s)
D Hunt; P Newton; K Carrigan; S Kuck; Q McMullen; C Putnam; W Rhodes; T Rich; G Yacoubian; S Young
Date Published
April 1999
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This report presents 1998 data on cocaine use among arrestees, based on the findings from arrestee drug testing under the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program (ADAM).
Abstract
Currently, 35 urban sites participate in the ADAM program. Twelve of the 35 sites were new to the ADAM data system in 1998; and, for many, these reports represent the first look at rates of cocaine use in arrestee populations. In 1998 the percentage of adult male respondents who tested positive for recent (past 72 hours) cocaine use in the ADAM program ranged from a high of 51.3 percent in Atlanta to a low of 8.0 percent in San Jose. For the 32 sites that collected data on female arrestees during 1998, cocaine-positive rates ranged from 67.0 percent in New York City to 9.5 percent in San Jose. Generally, older adults (age 31 and older), whether male or female, were the most likely to use cocaine. Among male cocaine users, recent crack use was self- reported almost twice as frequently as recent powder use. Among female cocaine users, crack use was typically self-reported more than four times as often as powder cocaine use. Taken collectively, these findings suggest that the cocaine epidemic continues to vary in intensity by community, gender, age, and other factors. Although cocaine use may be stabilizing, it is doing so at an unacceptably high level among ADAM arrestees. The arrested population continues to have extensive involvement with both crack and powder cocaine. The need for strategies aimed at reducing crack-cocaine use among females continues to exist. 5 tables and 8 references