[Narcotic Use under Probation and Parole Supervision - A longitudinal Study of Risk-group-specific Recidivism under Abstinence Conditions].

Over fourteen years, urine tests from 380 people on probation (87% male, average age 30) showed that 2.7% of 13,500 individual analyses detected at least one of eight narcotic substances. Cannabis had the highest relapse prevalence at 3.7%, followed by opiates at 2.4%. Barbiturates, LSD, buprenorphine, and PCP were almost never found. Relapses were most common among 18- to 35-year-olds, and women violated court abstinence orders with amphetamines more often than men did. Relapse rates for cannabis, opiates, and cocaine fluctuated most over time. The authors suggest that narcotic use during probation is not rare and has received too little professional attention.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The aim of this long-term study was to record substance-specific prevalences of illegal use of narcotics despite court-imposed abstinence requirements. Urine assays were obtained by a public health department on the basis of administrative assistance for the probation department of a district court. The individual and valid allocation of these urine samples was ensured using a proven marker system. After postal dispatch, laboratory chemical analyses for narcotics residues were carried out in an external laboratory via enzyme immunoassay and validation by mass spectrography in the case of positive narcotics results. On the basis of all available routine data, a pooled data set covering a total of fourteen consecutive calendar years (2006-2019) was generated digitally and evaluated anonymously. From a total of 380 subjects (female: 13% versus male: 87%; average age: 30.4 years), 13,500 individual narcotic substance analyses from 2,941 urine samples were available. In 2.7% of all individual analyses, at least one of eight potential narcotic substances was detected, whereby the highest overall prevalences in the sense of a relapse were found for cannabis with 3.7% and for opiates with 2.4%. In contrast, there were almost no residues for barbiturates and LSD and no positive evidence for buprenorphine and PCP. As expected, most relapses in all narcotics groups were found in the age groups from 18 to 35 years. Strikingly, more women than men violated the court abstinence order with amphetamines, while relapses with the other seven narcotics groups occurred predominantly among men. In the course of the entire observation period, the most marked fluctuations in relapse rates were found for cannabis, opiates and cocaine. The use of narcotic substances during probation and parole supervision does not appear to be a rare occurrence and has received little professional attention. Increased attention to this group-specific recidivism and more studies on this topic should help reduce this deficit.