A Short Report: self-reported drug use vs. urinalysis in a sample of arrestees in South Africa

Abstract

Self-reported drug use and urinalysis results were compared in a sample of approximately a thousand arrestees interviewed in three major cities in South Africa during 2000. Results showed that only 54% of the arrestees who tested positive for cannabis reported using the drug in the past thirty days, 32% of those who tested positive for Mandrax (methaqualone) and 35% of those who tested positive for cocaine reported having used the respective drug in the past three days. Implications for use of self-report measures alone in research on arrestees and other populations are discussed and the South African findings are compared to those presented in the NEW-ADAM study in the UK.