Prisoner drug use dropping

The proportion of prisoners testing positive to random drug tests is at its lowest level since testing began eight years ago, Corrections Department figures show.

The figures show that 15.6 per cent of those tested in the nine months to March 2006 returned positive results - down almost 2 per cent from the previous year.

Results from the first testing period in 1998 showed 34 per cent of prisoners had traces of drugs in their system, with 25.5 per cent testing positive the following year.

- NZPA