Drug Use among Female Arrestees: Onset, Patterns, and Relationships to Prostitution

Abstract

This study presents extensive life history information for a sample of 164 female arrestees in Manhattan who were interviewed and provided anonymous and voluntary urine specimens in 1984–85. It provides a unique opportunity to explore drug use and crime relationships in a sample that is similar to offenders currently being studied as part of the national Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program. Over one-half of the females tested positive for a drug at arrest by urinalysis. Sixty percent tested positive for cocaine and twenty-seven percent for opiates. The female arrestees tended to be high school dropouts and to have come from broken homes. The majority were unmarried and had one or more children living with them. Approximately one-half of the arrestees had a history of prostitution, and these persons were more likely to be currently dependent on heroin or cocaine. Analyses examine personal backgrounds of the females, their pattern of onset of drug use, and the temporal sequence of drug use and prostitution.