Patterns of drinking and drinking outcomes among drug misusers 1-year follow-up results

This article investigates patterns of drinking and drinking outcomes among 753 drug-misusing clients recruited to the National Treatment Outcome Resea rch Study (NTORS). More than one third of those who were drinking at intake reported problematic or highly problematic patterns of alcohol consumption . About one third of the sample were abstinent from alcohol at intake and a t follow-up. Some improvements in drinking behavior were found at I-year fo llow-up, especially among the heaviest and most problematic drinkers. Impro vements were specifically related to patterns of preintake drinking behavio r. The majority of clients made little change to their pattern of pretreatm ent drinking behavior and the continued heavy drinking of many drinkers at follow-up is a disappointing finding. Drinking problems have been given ins ufficient attention in the treatment of illicit substance misuse problems, and efforts should be made to develop and strengthen the assessment and tre atment of drinking problems among drug misusers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.