PROFILES OF HEROIN-ADDICTS IN DIFFERENT TREATMENT CONDITIONS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

This article describes profiles of heroin addicts in three types of tr eatment (methadone, deter and therapeutic community) and those not in treatment in the local community. The profiles are based on data at it em-level of the revised Addiction Severity Index. In total, 310 heroin addicts were interviewed. The results show that on the one hand the c ommunity group and the methadone group are roughly comparable, and on the other hand the deter and therapeutic community groups have similar characteristics. The latter groups report significantly more psycholo gical and social problems. The community group mentions the fewest pro blems with drug use and more illegal activities in the past month. The results indicate that large differences exist between the groups in p sychosocial problems. Furthermore, they indicate that the methadone gr oup has no specific pattern of problems. Two important groups outside treatment are identified with respect to matching: addicts under 25 ye ars old and addicts with a non-Dutch cultural background.