By Cheryl V. Jackson
Chicago Sun Times
CHICAGO — Nearly 90 percent of the men arrested in the Chicago area last year tested positive for illegal drug use at the time of their arrests, according to a federal report.
The area’s 87 percent rate led among 10 metropolitan areas studied in 2008.
Chicago -- at 29 percent -- also had the highest proportion of arrested men testing positive for heroin, according to the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
About 4,600 arrestees completed interviews and about 4,000 provided urine specimens for the study, the findings of which underscore a need for drug-treatment programs rather than prison, authorities said.
The Chicago area also led in male arrestees testing positive for cocaine (44 percent) and the presence of more than one illegal drug in their system (40 percent).
Chicago tied New York, Atlanta and Charlotte for the smallest proportion of methamphetamine use -- at less than 1 percent.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.