The Effectiveness of Methadone Maintenance Treatment

An evaluation of methadone maintenance treatment in the United States to date is given in this work. It is based on three years of data collection at drug abuse treatment programmes in New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The study contains findings for 617 male intravenous addicts interviewed during and after six methadone programmes. The major findings deal with the effectiveness of methadone maintenance in reducing drug use; crime and other deviant behaviour; the effectiveness of some programmes compared to others; the need to improve the quality of care at most programmes; and the establishment of successful procedures and methodologies for evaluating drug abuse treatment programmes.