INTRODUCTION

In 1999, the UK government allocated £6 million of new money for research and information gathering in support of the government's strategy to reduce drug-related crime. Part of the £6 million was used to set up a national program of research to investigate drug use and crime among arrestees. In July 1999, after two developmental stages, a program of arrestee monitoring was established in the United Kingdom under the title of the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) program.

The program was designed primarily to collect urine specimens and to conduct personal interviews with recently arrested offenders to understand better the nature of the drug-crime connection. The surveys were also to provide information on related issues, such as use of weapons and guns in crime, gang membership, and drug markets. The program was initially funded to run for three years with the view of continuing funding subject to review.

The broad aim of this book is to present the findings of the NEW-ADAM surveys. Some of the results of the NEW-ADAM program have already been published in government reports and in articles in peer-reviewed journals. However, other findings have not yet been published. As a result, the findings of the NEW-ADAM program have not been fully documented in a single source. This book brings together the results of the NEW-ADAM program in a single volume by summarizing the findings of previously published papers and presenting new findings.