N ational Survey on D rug Use and H ealth

The NSDUH Report December 16, 2005

Illicit Drug Use among Persons

Arrested for Serious Crimes
ata from the Arrestee Drug Abuse
In Brief
● Based on annual averages
from the 2002, 2003, and 2004
D Monitoring (ADAM) program
indicate that a high proportion of
arrestees test positive for illicit drug use.1
The National Survey on Drug Use and
National Surveys on Drug Use
and Health, an estimated 1.2
Health (NSDUH) asks respondents aged
million adults aged 18 or older 18 or older to report whether they were
were arrested for any serious arrested and booked for various crimes
violent or property offense in the in the past year. This report examines
past year arrests for Part I violent and property
offenses as defined by the Federal Bureau
● Adults who were arrested in the of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime
past year for any serious offense Reporting Program.2 Arrests for Part
were more likely to have used an I violent offenses include arrests for
illicit drug in the past year than murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated
those who were not arrested assault; arrests for Part I property offenses
(60.1 vs. 13.6 percent) include arrests for burglary, theft, motor
vehicle theft, and arson. NSDUH also
● Of adults who had been arrested
asks respondents to report on their use of
for serious offenses in the past
year, 46.5 percent had used
illicit drugs during the past year. Any illicit
marijuana in the past year drug refers to marijuana/hashish, cocaine
compared with 10.0 percent of (including crack), inhalants, hallucinogens
those who had not been arrested (including MDMA, PCP, and LSD), heroin,
for any serious offense or prescription-type drugs used
nonmedically.3

The NSDUH Report (formerly The NHSDA Report) is published periodically by the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission
from SAMHSA. Additional copies of this report or other reports from the Office of Applied Studies are available online: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov
Citation of the source is appreciated. For questions about this report, please e-mail: shortreports@samhsa.hhs.gov
NSDUH REPORT: ILLICIT DRUG USE AMONG PERSONS ARRESTED FOR SERIOUS CRIMES December 16, 2005

This report presents the

estimated number and per- Table 1. Percentages of Persons Aged 18 or Older Arrested in the Past
Year for Part I Offenses, by Age and Gender: 2002, 2003, and 2004
centage of adults aged 18 or
older who were arrested in the
past 12 months for Part I of- Gender Any Part I Any Part I Any Part I
fenses by gender and age and and Age Offense Violent Offense Property Offense

compares rates of illicit drug

Total 0.6 0.2 0.4
use for those who had and had
not been arrested. All findings Age
presented in this report are 18 to 25 Years 1.8 0.7 1.3
annual averages based on 26 to 34 Years 0.6 0.3 0.3
combined 2002, 2003, and 35 Years or Older 0.3 0.1 0.2
2004 NSDUH data.
Gender
Male 0.8 0.4 0.5
Adults Arrested in the
Past Year Female 0.3 0.1 0.2

Based on annual averages

from the 2002, 2003, and
2004 NSDUHs, an estimated
1.2 million adults aged 18 or Figure 1. Percentages of Persons Aged 18 or Older Reporting Any Past
older (0.6 percent) were arrest- Year Illicit Drug Use, by Whether They Were Arrested for Part I Offenses in
the Past Year: 2002, 2003, and 2004
ed in the past year for any Part
I offense.4 Approximately 0.2 Arrested in Past Year
80%
percent of adults (an estimated Not Arrested in Past Year
527,000) were arrested for a 63.1
Part I violent offense, and 0.4 60.1 60.0
60%
percent (an estimated 772,000)
were arrested for a Part I
property offense. 40%
Individuals aged 18 to 25
were more likely to have been
arrested for any Part I offense, 20%
13.6 13.7 13.7
any Part I violent offense, and
any Part I property offense in
the past year than individuals 0%
aged 26 to 34 or those aged Any Part I Part I Violent Part I Property
35 or older (Table 1). Males Offense Offense Offense

were more likely than females

to have been arrested for any
Part I offense, any Part I vio- past year than those who were
Past Year Arrestees and not arrested (60.1 vs. 13.6 per-
lent offense, and any Part I Illicit Drug Used
property offense. cent; Figure 1). Similar differ-
Adults who were arrested in ences were found both for Part
the past year for any Part I I violent offenses (63.1 vs. 13.7
offense were more likely to percent) and Part I property
have used an illicit drug in the offenses (60.0 vs. 13.7 percent).
December 16, 2005 NSDUH REPORT: ILLICIT DRUG USE AMONG PERSONS ARRESTED FOR SERIOUS CRIMES

Table 2. Percentages of Persons Aged 18 or Older Reporting Past Year End Notes
Illicit Drug Use, by Whether They Were Arrested for Any Part I Offense in 1 National Institute of Justice. (2003, April).
the Past Year: 2002, 2003, and 2004 2000 Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring: An-
nual report (NCJ 193013). Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Arrested for Not Arrested for Programs, National Institute of Justice.
Illicit Any Part I Offense Any Part I Offense [Available as a PDF at
Drug (Percent) (Percent) http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/193013.pdf]
2 The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program
Marijuana 46.5 10.0 separates crimes into two major categories:
Part I and Part II offenses. Part I offenses
include criminal homicide, forcible rape,
Cocaine 24.8 2.4 robbery, aggravated assault, burglary,
larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Crack Cocaine 11.8 0.6 Part II offenses include all other report-
able classifications outside those defined
as Part I offenses (e.g., fraud, vandalism,
Hallucinogens 11.0 1.5 drunkenness, vagrancy). See the FBI’s 2004
Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook (revised)
Methamphetamines 6.5 0.5 (Clarksburg, WV: U.S. Department of Justice,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform
Crime Reporting Program; available at
Heroin 4.3 0.1 http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius).
3 Nonmedical use is defined as use of
Nonmedical Use of Any prescription-type drugs not prescribed for
Prescription-Type Drug 28.8 5.7 the respondent by a physician or used only
for the experience or feeling they caused.
Nonmedical use of any prescription-type pain
reliever, sedative, stimulant, or tranquilizer
does not include over-the-counter drugs.
Past Year Arrestees and Number of Arrests and 4 When considering the data presented here, it
Type of Illicit Drug Used Illicit Drug Use is important to understand the methodologi-
cal differences between NSDUH and the
Uniform Crime Report (UCR). In the UCR,
Of adults who had been ar- NSDUH includes a question one arrest is counted for each separate
rested for any Part I offense on the total number of arrests instance in which an individual is arrested,
cited, or summoned for criminal acts. One
in the past year, 46.5 percent in the past year (including person may be arrested multiple times during
had used marijuana in the arrests for both Part I and the year; as a result, data from the UCR
represent the number of arrests in the past
past year compared with 10.0 other offenses). Among adults year rather than the number of individuals
arrested. UCR counts of arrest are conserva-
percent of those who had not arrested for any Part I offense tive because reporting is voluntary and in-
been arrested for any Part I in the past year, 63.9 percent complete (i.e., some large jurisdictions were
not included in 2004). NSDUH data represent
offense (Table 2). Individu- were arrested one time for the number of individuals arrested. In addi-
tion, NSDUH would not capture data from
als who had been arrested for either a Part I or other offense, past year arrestees who were convicted and
Part I offenses in the past year and 36.1 percent were arrested incarcerated since the time of their arrest,
resulting in an undercount of persons
also were more likely than two or more times. Part I ar- arrested. According to the 2004 UCR, among
those not arrested for Part I restees who were arrested two adults aged 18 or older, there were 1,224,257
arrests for Part I offenses, including 358,395
offenses to have used cocaine, or more times were more likely arrests for Part I violent offenses and
865,862 arrests for Part I property offenses.
crack cocaine, hallucinogens, to have used an illicit drug in See Table 38 in the FBI’s 2005 Crime in the
methamphetamines, heroin, the past year than Part I ar- United States: 2004 Uniform Crime Reports
(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice;
and prescription drugs restees who were arrested only available as a PDF at
nonmedically. once (69.8 vs. 55.2 percent). http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius).

Figure/Table Note
Source: SAMHSA, 2002, 2003, and 2004 NSDUH.
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Research findings from the SAMHSA 2002, 2003, and 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is an annual survey
sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Illicit Drug Use among (SAMHSA). Prior to 2002, this survey was called the National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). The 2002, 2003, and 2004 data are based
on information obtained from 135,059 persons aged 18 or older. The survey

Persons Arrested for collects data by administering questionnaires to a representative sample of the
population through face-to-face interviews at their place of residence.

Serious Crimes
The NSDUH Report is prepared by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS),
SAMHSA, and by RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
(RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute.)
Information on the NSDUH surveys used in compiling data for this issue is
available in the following publications:
● Based on annual averages from the 2002, 2003, Office of Applied Studies. (2005). Results from the 2004 National Survey on
and 2004 National Surveys on Drug Use and Drug Use and Health: National findings (DHHS Publication No. SMA 05-4062,
NSDUH Series H-28). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Health, an estimated 1.2 million adults aged 18 Services Administration.
or older were arrested for any serious violent or Office of Applied Studies. (2004). Results from the 2003 National Survey on
Drug Use and Health: National findings (DHHS Publication No. SMA 04-3964,
property offense in the past year NSDUH Series H-25). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration.
● Adults who were arrested in the past year for any Office of Applied Studies. (2003). Results from the 2002 National Survey on
serious offense were more likely to have used an Drug Use and Health: National findings (DHHS Publication No. SMA 03-3836,
illicit drug in the past year than those who were not NSDUH Series H-22). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration.
arrested (60.1 vs. 13.6 percent)
Also available online: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov

● Of adults who had been arrested for serious Because of improvements and modifications to the 2002 NSDUH, estimates
from the 2002, 2003, and 2004 surveys should not be compared with estimates
offenses in the past year, 46.5 percent had used from the 2001 or earlier versions of the survey to examine changes over time.
marijuana in the past year compared with 10.0
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
percent of those who had not been arrested for any Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration
Office of Applied Studies
serious offense www.samhsa.gov