83% of Chicago Inmates Arrested While on Drugs

More Than Half are on Multiple Drugs

By Jennifer Schwarz
|  Thursday, Jun 16, 2011  |  Updated 7:57 AM CDT
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83% of Inmates Arrested While on Drugs

Getty Images News / Daniel Berehulak

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More than 80 percent of men who were admitted to Cook County Jail last year tested positive for at least one illegal drug.

A report released by U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske found more than half of men admitted tested positive for marijuana, and 25 percent had cocaine in their system. More than one in 10 tested positive for heroin or other opiates, and 20 percent tested positive for multiple substances.
 
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told the Chicago Sun-Times jail staff assumes most inmates either have drugs in their system or are in withdrawal when they’re admitted.
 
“We don’t take note when someone goes through withdrawal because it happens so often,” Dart said.

Posted Jun 16, 2011
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