Treatment re-entry and outcomes of opioid addicts during a four-year follow-up after drug abuse treatment in the United States.

Post-treatment outcome measures during a four-year follow-up period were examined in relation to readmissions to drug abuse treatment. The sample included 1,174 opioid addicts admitted during 1972-1973 to 26 different treatment programmes throughout the United States that participated in the Drug Abuse Reporting Program (DARP). Admissions to methadone maintenance programmes, therapeutic communities, outpatient drug-free treatments, and outpatient detoxification programmes were studied, as well as a comparison group which completed admission procedures but did not return for treatment at the DARP agency. The examination of temporal patterns of treatment and outcome indicators presenting drug use, criminality, and productive activities during the four-year follow-up period showed that there were beneficial effects associated with treatment.