By contrast 79 per cent of those arrested for property crime tested positive to some illegal drug. The program is being funded by the Commonwealth National Illicit Drug Strategy. In New South Wales the pilot program operates at Bankstown and Parramatta police stations and is being managed in a partnership between the Australian Institute of Criminology and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics in Research. DUMA is also being trialed by the Australian Institute of Criminology in Western Australia and Queensland. Under the DUMA program, every three months, for about a month, people arrested by police are asked by independent researchers to participate in the DUMA study.
Participation is voluntary and the results are kept completely confidential by the researchers.
Most of those approached participate in the study. Responses to the DUMA survey also shed light on the level of drug market involvement by people arrested by police. Nearly a third reported purchasing cannabis in the last month and slightly over a third reported purchasing heroin. It provides a valuable early warning system for the uptake of new drugs among that section of the population most inclined to resort to crime in response to drug use.' 'As the surveys continue we can begin to assess the effectiveness of police efforts to reduce illicit drug consumption and get drug users into treatment, where their offending rates are much lower.' 'Police should find the information gleaned from the survey component of the DUMA program useful as a source of intelligence about how and where illegal drug transactions take place' 'Finally, the information about drug use obtained through DUMA should help police involved in arresting and detaining offenders to plan more effective occupational and health policies', Dr Weatherburn said.