Report: 55 Percent of Arrested Juveniles Tested Positive for Drugs

A study released Thursday shows 55 percent of juveniles arrested in San Diego County in 2011 tested positive for illicit drugs.

The study, conducted by the San Diego Association of Governments, also revealed that 63 percent of adult females and 58 percent of adult males arrested tested positive.

“Those who abuse drugs also are often involved in other criminal activities, such as shoplifting, vandalism, and driving under the influence,” said SANDAG Director of Criminal Justice Research Cynthia Burke. “Therefore, it’s important to target prevention and intervention services to at-risk populations to reduce the harm they do to themselves and others.”

Other findings include:

• Marijuana is the leading gateway drug—one in two youths reported that marijuana was the first substance they tried.
• 94 percent of youths have tried marijuana.
• 37 percent of juveniles and 42 percent of adults reported using prescription drugs illegally.
• About 50 percent of juveniles reported they had tried ecstasy. One in four had used more than one hallucinogenic drug, and more than three-quarters of users reported ecstasy was “very easy” or “easy” to obtain.

 A total of 130 youths and a total of 776 adults were interviewed for the study. 

Click on the PDFs to read the study.