Substance?abuse treatment works

Five years after drug-abuse treatment, substance use and criminal behavior are reduced, according to a recent study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The study, sponsored by the Office of Applied Studies of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is the first nationally representative study of substance-abuse treatment.

The report confirms findings of previous studies showing that drug-abuse treatment reduces substance abuse and crime.

'Addiction-treatment specialists have always known that drug-abuse treatment is successful in individual cases, but now we have data that show treatment is effective on a much larger scale and in some unexpected ways,' says Christine Hartel, APA?s associate executive director for science.

In the study, researchers interviewed 1,799 clients who had participated in inpatient, outpatient and residential substance-abuse programs across the country five years earlier. Respondents had received substance-abuse treatment at one of 99 facilities selected from a random sample of treatment programs across the nation. The participants are representative of the 976,012 individuals discharged from treatment in 1990.

The survey found that five years after treatment there was a 21 percent reduction in the use of any illicit drugs. More specifically, the survey found a:

? 14 percent decline in alcohol use.

? 28 percent decrease in marijuana use.

? 48 percent drop in cocaine use.

? 17 percent reduction in crack use.

? 14 percent decrease in heroin use.

The study also found that criminal activity, such as breaking and entering, drug sales, prostitution, weapon use and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, declined by at least 23 percent and as much as 38 percent after patients received substance-abuse treatment.

Many respondents reported an improved quality of life, including a shift toward regaining and retaining child custody and finding better housing and employment opportunities. 'This survey shows that treatment works, perhaps even in ways we didn?t expect,' Hartel says.

?L. Rabasca