Start spreading the news: Understanding the drug problem in the mid-American states with the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program

Abstract

This paper examines efforts by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to expand our understanding of drug use among the arrestee population in largely rural states located the western portion of the country. The model for this new effort was the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program that was initiated by NIJ in the late 1980s. This program collected interview
and urine data from recent arrestees in 23 large urban cities. The DUF program was enhanced to create a better understanding of the drug problem among arrestees in relatively smaller cities located in theoretically interesting areas. The new program (the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program [ADAM]) has involved the addition of 15 new sites and changes to the survey instrument, sampling design, and outreach that have helped
show more clearly how the drug use patterns among arrestees differ from region to region. In this paper, specific attention is shown to one of the new sites (Oklahoma City) and regional comparisons.