Drug use hits 21-year high for men jailed in San Diego
LOCAL
by: City News Service
Posted: Aug 19, 2021 / 01:44 PM PDT / Updated: Aug 19, 2021 / 02:36 PM PDT
File – A sheriff’s deputy at the San Diego County Jail on April 24, 2020. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Drug use was at a 21-year high for adult males arrested and booked into local detention facilities in 2020, with methamphetamine and fentanyl posing some worrying trends, according to a San Diego Association of Governments report released Thursday.
The new SANDAG report found 82% of males surveyed tested positive for at least one illicit substance, a 3% increase from 2019. Drug use among adult females surveyed significantly decreased from the 82% in 2019 to 67% in 2020. This represents the lowest positive rate for adult females since 2015.
“It is important to note the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection for this report,” said Cynthia Burke, SANDAG director of research and program management. “The large decrease in drug use among adult females could reflect modified booking policies as a result of the pandemic, which impacted who was available to be interviewed for this project.
“However, even with these changes, the majority of adults who are booked are drug-involved, and this is true regardless of why they are booked, highlighting the ongoing need to address substance use and addiction as both a public safety and health issue,” Burke concluded.
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Methamphetamine continues to be the drug of choice for those booked into local detention facilities in 2020. Of those surveyed, 57% of males tested positive for meth, a 2% increase from 2019 and a new 21-year high. A total of 53% of females tested positive for meth. More than four in five arrestees — 84% — said that meth was “easy to obtain.” Comparatively, 65% reported marijuana was “very easy” to obtain.
Of those arrestees surveyed, 45% were booked for a violent offense, 22% for an “other offense,” 18% for a property offense and 15% for a drug offense.
Additionally, 40% of arrestees reported they had previously received drug treatment and 88% reported previous arrests in the past. A total of 37% had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, 70% reported ever being homeless, 19% have ever overdosed and 45% of these individuals had been administered naloxone to rapidly reverse opioid overdose.
