Why has it proved so difficult to match drug abuse patients to appropriate treatment?

Why has it proved so difficult to match drug abuse patients to appropriate treatment? In seeking answers to this dilemma, attention is directed to the conceptual, semantic, substantive, methodological, political and cultural issues which need to be resolved. In particular, the lack of knowledge about the treatment domain as well as the corresponding dearth of instruments to measure program characteristics and the delivery of treatment services is noted. Although the importance of demographic and cultural determinants of both patient and treatment characteristics seems evident, numerous conceptual issues persist. Is matching patients to treatment and rehabilitation a one-time event or a process? Is matching a simplistic concept? It is suggested that the principal questions to be resolved about matching drug abuse patients to treatment and rehabilitation are conceptual, or theoretical.