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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-02 Daily Xml
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DRUG USE MONITORING

In reply to the Hon. R.D. LAWSON (23 September 2008).

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business): The Attorney-General has received this information:

Over the period that data was collected from Elizabeth Police Station, some differences were identified between the two sites, such as drug use patterns and related activity. For example, it was identified that the Elizabeth sample usually recorded a lower percentage of detainees testing positive to heroin and benzodiazepines but higher percentages of detainees testing positive to cannabis.

Although the collection of data from Elizabeth was a valuable exercise in identifying the levels of drug use and its association with crime in a local context, it was recognised that the continued collection of the data at Elizabeth would be of limited value in further informing the demographic variations between the two sites and the link between drug use and crime, since the patterns identified were well established over the period of data collection. The DUMA data is only one of the sources of data about drug use that justice agencies rely on. Ceasing the collection of DUMA data at the Elizabeth Police Station was not expected to have any impact on service delivery across government and other interested agencies, such as SAPol and Department of Health. The interested agencies were consulted on the decision to cease data collection at Elizabeth. Data collection at the Adelaide City Watch House continues.

In addition to providing information to local police that can be used to assist them operationally, DUMA also contributes to the evidence base for policy formulation by:

Monitoring police detainees who are involved in illicit drugs and crime markets;

Providing tracking data that facilitates the examination of trend data;

Providing information on drug use not just from those known to be drug users, such as injecting drug users;

Validating self-reported recent drug use with urine testing;

Providing a large, high-quality database for analysing links between drugs and crime; and

Providing a mechanism for collecting other key strategic information on issues of importance to law enforcement e.g. drug driving and high speed pursuits and use of weapons through the addition of addendum questionnaires.

Information from the DUMA project is used for administrative purposes, primarily strategic planning, including resource allocation, policy development and providing advice to government Ministers and the government and non-government agencies. DUMA data are also used for research purposes, including the preparation of briefing papers comparing and contrasting with other research project data, examining specific variables (e.g., antecedents in offender drug use) and preparation of literature reviews. A specific example of how DUMA data has been used is SAPol's Operation Mantle, a policing approach targeting low to mid-level drug dealers.

Data collected from the Adelaide City Watch House continues to contribute to this work, providing a South Australian perspective.

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