Services research outcomes study: Overview of drug treatment population and outcomes

The study examined a representative sample of the 1,060,000 individuals dis charged from drug user treatment in the United States in the 12 months befo re September 1990, and compared self-reports of behavior 5 years before to 5 years after treatment: Self-reports about recent drug use were compared w ith urine samples, and the agreement between self-report and drug-test resu lts was high. The key findings are that the number of alcohol and drug user s declined markedly, ranging from one-seventh to more than one half; those who continued using drugs after treatment used them less frequently than be fore treatment; criminal behavior fell between one-quarter to one-half,rand primary criminal support fell by one third; full-time employment did not c hange; homelessness, drug injection, and suicide attempts decreased by more than one-third.