STUDY FINDS TREATMENT EFFECTIVE IN REDUCING DRUG USE IN LONG TERM

Offering new evidence that treating drug addicts works in the long term, a
government survey has reported that addicts who undergo treatment are
considerably less likely to consume drugs or commit crimes to support their
use, even after five years.

Adolescents were the conspicuous exception. Their overall drug use did not
drop significantly after treatment, the study said, and the number who
smoked crack cocaine and abused alcohol actually rose.

But adolescents have also been identified as the highest risk-taking age
group, while adults tend to quit using drugs as they get older. The new
survey confirmed that older people were more likely to curtail drug use and
criminal behavior than younger ones. It also reported that women responded
better to treatment than men.

The national survey, which was released Wednesday by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human
Services, surveyed 1,799 people five years after their discharge from
drug-abuse treatment programs in 1989 and 1990. Their responses on drug use
were verified using urinalysis for traces of drugs.

Relapse often occurs after treatment, but the study found that the number of
people using any illicit drug dropped by 21 percent. The number of powder
cocaine users decreased by 45 percent, while the number of crack smokers
decreased by just 17 percent. The number of heroin users went down by 14
percent and marijuana users by 28 percent. The number of those using alcohol
declined by 14 percent.

As for criminal behavior, the study reported that 56 percent fewer addicts
stole cars and 38 percent fewer committed burglaries after completing
treatment. The number of prostitutes and their procurers declined by 30
percent, the study said.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the retired Army general who is the White House's
director of national drug policy, called the newest study "extremely
important" in showing that treatment was cost-effective.

In looking at what happened to graduates of treatment programs, McCaffrey
said in a telephone interview: "You'd expect some pretty bad results.
Instead, you find that you've got a significant drop in drug-using
behavior."

Though federal spending for treatment has increased 33 percent since the
1993 fiscal year, the government continues to spend far more to interdict
and seize drugs and arrest and imprison dealers and addicted felons.
According to the White House's 1998 National Drug Control Strategy, drug
treatment is available for barely 52 percent of the Americans who
immediately need it.

The survey released on Wednesday is formally called the Services Research
Outcomes Study and was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at
the University of Chicago. McCaffrey is sure to cite it in his effort to
persuade Congress to approve the administration's requests for $200 million
more in drug-treatment financing and for another $85 million to treat
addicted offenders caught in the criminal justice system. The requests, for
the 1999 fiscal year, have been blocked in congressional committee.

"This is a litmus test of rational drug policy," said McCaffrey, who said he
would join the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, in
lobbying Congress for more treatment money.

Camille Barry, the acting director of the government's Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment, said the study confirmed the long-term effectiveness of
drug treatment.

"We know that the longer you stay in treatment, the better the outcome,"
Barry said.

Yet 58 percent of the people surveyed had undergone treatment for the first
time and 44 percent had spent a month or less in a treatment programs. "To
have the results come out the way they did is very positive," Barry said.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst