Secondary prevention of drug dependence through the transcendental meditation program in metropolitan Philadelphia.

Using mailed questionnaires, the Transcendental Meditation program was investigated as an approach to the secondary prevention of substance dependence. Significant differences were found between a random sample of meditators and matched control subjects in usage levels and percentage of users for almost all legal and illegal drugs. Meditators had used more prescribed psychoactive medications before learning meditation, but usage levels returned to normal soon after starting. Former users of alcohol, cigarettes, or illegal drugs achieved remarkable abstinence records. For most substances the amount of decrease was positively correlated with degree of participation in the program and the length of time meditating.