DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09924
title: Anticipating Community Drug Problems in Washington, DC, and Portland, Oregon, 1984-1990
title: Archival Version

description: This study examined the use of arrestee urinalysis results as a predictor of other community drug problems. A three-stage public health model was developed using drug diffusion and community drug indicators as aggregate measures of individual drug use careers. Monthly data on drug indicators for Washington, DC, and Portland, Oregon, were used to: (1) estimate the correlations of drug problem indicators over time, (2) examine the correlations among indicators at different stages in the spread of new forms of drug abuse, and (3) estimate lagged models in which arrestee urinalysis results were used to predict subsequent community drug problems. Variables included arrestee drug test results, drug-overdose deaths, crimes reported to the local police department, and child maltreatment incidents. Washington variables also included drug-related emergency room episodes. The unit of analysis was months covered by the study. The Washington, DC, data consist of 78 records, one for each month from April 1984 through September 1990. The Portland, Oregon, data contain 33 records, one for each month from January 1988 through September 1990.
description: The goal of the study was to extend the use of arrestee urinalysis results in community planning by examining the relationships among arrestee drug tests and drug-related emergency room episodes, drug overdose deaths, crimes, and child abuse and neglect cases. The conceptual framework that was developed addressed the issue of temporal relationships among indicators by considering how the diffusion of new patterns of drug abuse and the course of individual drug careers would cumulatively affect different indicators. This required an elaboration of assumptions about how drug abuse spreads, its effects on individuals over time, and the resulting cumulative effects on the community over time. The product was a three-stage public health model of drug diffusion and the influence drug diffusion might be expected to have on various community drug indicators when they are viewed as aggregate measures of individual drug use careers. Stage 1 of the model is the initiation of a new drug use pattern, Stage 2 is spreading drug use, and Stage 3 is drug use stabilization or decline.
description: Selection of study sites and community indicators were determined by data availability. The first criterion was monthly data on results of urinalysis of arrestees at booking, available for almost all detained arrestees in Washington, DC, since April 1984. The additional data on drug-related emergency room episodes, drug overdose deaths, reported crimes, and reported cases of child abuse and neglect formed the basis for initial model testing. To examine the extent to which Washington, DC, might generalize to other communities, Portland, Oregon, was chosen as a comparison site with similar initial booking tests of arrestees on a continuous monthly basis and community indicators similar to those available in Washington, DC. Emergency room episode data comparable to that in Washington, DC, was not available for Portland.
description: Part 1 data (Washington, DC) were broken into five sections: Arrestee Drug Test Results (cocaine, opiates, methadone, amphetamines, and PCP), Drug-Related Emergency Room Episodes, Drug Overdose Deaths, Crimes Reported (violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, and assault, and property crimes, including burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson), and Child Maltreatment (abuse, neglect, and other). Part 2 data (Portland, OR) consisted of the same sections with the exception of Drug-Related Emergency Room Episodes.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Washington, DC, Data DS2: Portland, Oregon, Data DS3: SAS Data Definition Statements for Washington, DC, Data DS4: SAS Data Definition Statements for Portland, Oregon, Data
description: Washington, DC: All drug-use arrestees, drug-related emergency room episodes, drug overdose deaths, violent and property crimes, and child abuse and neglect cases. Portland, Oregon: All drug-use arrestees, drug overdose deaths, violent and property crimes, and child neglect, abuse, and endangerment cases.
description: Part 1 has eleven 132-character records per case, and Part 2 has two 132-character records per case. Data contain explicit decimals.