Treatment Histories of Clients Treated for Drug Abuse*

Abstract

History of drug abuse treatments was examined for clients included in a national follow-up study based on admissions to the Drug Abuse Reporting Program (DARP) during 1969–1972. Clients were sampled from DARP methadone maintenance, therapeutic community, outpatient drug-free, and outpatient detoxification programs, as well as an intake only comparison group. Pre-DARP treatment was reported by 40% of the total sample, with detoxification being the most common. Treatments in the first three years after DARP were reported by 51%, with methadone maintenance being the most common. There was an overall trend toward methadone maintenance as the predominant treatment after DARP regardless of the type of treatment a client received in the DARP, and approximately one-third of the total sample reported no other treatments either before or after DARP.