The project, Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA), endeavors to improve the quality of data on illicit drug use in the offender population; provide an early warning system for changes in patterns of illicit drug use; provide aggregated data in a timely fashion to State and Territory law enforcement agencies as well as Federal national agencies such as the Australian Federal Police, Customs, Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and National Crime Authority on the level of illicit drug use within the offender population; and establish a mechanism whereby local and national law enforcement can evaluate policy initiatives. Data from DUMA will be used to examine issues such as the relationship between drugs and property and violent crime, monitor patterns of drug use across time and help assess the need for drug treatment among the offender population. Figures, tables, notes, references