HALF OF PRISONERS TEST POSITIVE FOR POT

MORE than 50 per cent of Australia's prisoners tested positive to
cannabis over the past year, a new report has found.

The Australian Institute of Criminology today released two
comprehensive reports focusing on drug use and intimate relationship
violence among prison detainees.

The data was collected from more than 4500 people in police custody
at nine sites across the nation.

The data was taken from voluntary questionnaires filled out by the
police detainees, 70 per cent of whom also provided urine tests.

The report showed that drug use and intimate relationship violence
was high among detainees.

More than 50 per cent tested positive for cannabis, nearly a quarter
tested positive to methamphetamines, and around eight per cent to
heroin.

Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology Toni Makkai said
the figures showed that methamphetamine use among detainees had grown
since data was first collected in 1999.

"What we have seen is that heroin use has gone down ... however, we
did see methamphetamine going up from 1999 through to 2003 however it
has remained relatively stable at this level."

Of the people that took part in the questionnaire, half had been
arrested in the past 12 months and 18 per cent had been in prison in
the past 12 months.

More than two thirds were receiving government benefits and the
majority, 84 per cent were male.

Justice Minister David Johnston said the statistics showed that there
is a strong correlation between crime and substance abuse.

"This is a first for Australia to be able to look at ... what they've
(people in police custody) been taking and what they say about drug
abuse," he said.

"The Government's policies, with respect to drug and substance abuse,
have to some large extent ... been vindicated when looking at this
hard data."

The report also found that the level of inmate partner violence was
almost 50 per cent higher than the general population.