1 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

County Repons: San Diego. California
residential programs for alcohol have numbered over 4,000 per year for the past 5 fiscal years
(Exhibit 7). In 1991,4,116 individuals were admitted to detoxification and to short- and longterm
residential programs. In all programs, the majority were over 30 years old, with the mean
age ranging from 36.1 to 37.0, but the median age remaining stable at 35 for each year. The
proportion of males and females in program also showed a high degree of stability, ranging from
80 to 83 percent male. The population was largely Caucasian, although there were decreases
over time, from 79 percent in 1987 and 1988 to 73 percent for the next three years. African
American representation grew slightly during the five years, from 14 to 16 percent. Alcohol
users tended to be better educated than primary drug users, with over one third of participants
attending or completing college each year.
The majority (70 percent or more each year) of alcohol admissions reported prior program
involvement but very few reported that they were referred by the CJS. Information on arrest
history was only available for 1991; 52 percent of 1991 admissions reported two or more arrests.
During the entire period, no one reported entering treatment within the first three years of use.
All in all, the recovery trends for alcohol admissions, is most remarkable for its stability.
Participants in Neighborhood Recovery Centers (NRCs) are sampled semi-annually through a
point prevalence survey. There has been striking growth in the numbers of people coming to
these social model nonresidential programs, from around 7,600 participants in 1987 to 17,459
in 1991 (Exhibit 8). Although the majority of participants for all years were male, there were
substantially more females in NRCs (45 percent) than in the residential programs. In 1991,
there was also slightly more minority representation in NRCs, with 9.5 percent of all participants
being black, 14.5 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Native American and Asian.
6. Other Drugs
Few other drugs playa major role in the county's indicator systems. However, it should be
noted that in 1991, there was a slight increase in the number of adolescents in treatment who
reported hallucinogens. While it is too soon to speculate about an overall increase, it is
important to continue to pay close attention to the drugs of use reported by adolescents.
Recently, the media reported increased use of hallucinogens by adolescents, headlining the
stories with the news of LSD's "comeback". These stories were followed by several account
of the increase in availability ofXTC. XTC, particularly, received increased attention, with one
entire section of the local newspaper devoted to "rave" clubs, patterned after EUl'Opean and Bay
area rave clubs. Purportedly, there are several such clubs in San Diego but MDMA is not
demonstrably present, although revelers enjoy the music and dress of the underground clubs
where drugs (including MDMA) are reported to be readily available. In addition, a recent
newspaper article reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had seized a small
amount of MDMA. It seems clear that XTC has "arrived" but there are no reports of
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