NCJ Number
164649
Journal
Journal of Public Health Policy Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: (1992) Pages: 66-80
Date Published
1992
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Alcohol treatment and drug treatment have separate histories in the United States, but the two treatment systems are now merging at State and local levels in response to drug treatment financing policies and epidemiological descriptions of combined alcohol and other drug use in the population.
Abstract
This large structural change is occurring without the development and evaluation of treatment methods for combined problems and without adequate discussion of overall health service and policy implications. The author briefly describes the history of alcohol and drug treatment systems, the recent trend toward combining systems and programs, and relevant literature. She discusses treatment issues within the context of the hierarchy of social problems and social institutions in communities, the interdependence of treatment and social control agencies, and the exchange of functions between them. She argues that, at given points in time, some substances are objects of more social and political concern than others and that some community institutions are more powerful than others. The author also notes that alcohol and drug treatment systems have different degrees of interdependence with the criminal justice system and that combining the two systems has potential implications for treatment and policy issues. 47 references