NCJ Number
186804
Journal
Substance Use and Misuse: An International Interdisciplinary Forum Volume: 35 Issue: 12-14 Dated: 2000 Pages: 1849-1877
Date Published
2000
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This study examined a representative sample of the 1,060,000 individuals discharged from drug user treatment in the United States in the 12 months before September 1990 and compared self-reports of behavior 5 years before to 5 years after treatment.
Abstract
Self-reports about recent drug use were compared with urine samples, and the agreement between self-report and drug-test results was high. The key findings are that the number of alcohol and drug users declined markedly, ranging from one-seventh to more than one-half; those who continued using drugs after treatment used them less frequently than before treatment; criminal behavior declined between one-quarter to one-half, and primary criminal support fell by one-third; full-time employment did not change; homelessness, drug injection, and suicide attempts decreased by more than one-third. National estimates based on the findings suggest that there were 156,000 fewer users of any illicit drug in the 5 years after treatment compared with 5 years before treatment. Regarding crime reduction, there were 31,000 fewer cases of prostitution/procurement in the 5 years after treatment compared to the 5 years before treatment; and there were 34,000 fewer cases of fraud/forgery in the 5 years after treatment; 96,000 fewer cases of theft/larceny in the 5 years after treatment; 50,000 fewer cases of breaking and entering in the 5 years after treatment; and 28,000 fewer cases of threat/attack in the 5 years after treatment. 7 tables, 5 figures, 13 notes, and 25 references