QUITTING DRUGS FOR FUN, PROFIT

Rewards Program; Cash, Coupon Incentives Help Addicts Stay Clean

There are worse things you can do for money than stay off drugs. "And
I've done them, too," chuckled Allen Price, a 43-year-old
methamphetamine addict from Oakland, Calif.

So when a friend told him about a 12-week program in San Francisco
that would pay him up to $40 per week just to stay clean, he decided
it was just what he needed.

For five weeks since, he has trekked to a clinic several times a week
to submit a urine sample, and pick up a few dollars for testing negative.

"What appealed to me was the positiveness of it," he said. "It is a
motivation. Stay off drugs and get some benefits out of it. Why not
give it a try?"

The idea of paying people to stay clean has caught on around the
country amid a growing body of research indicating the practice can
help keep addicts off drugs.

Smokers in a two-year study at the University of Florida can get
vouchers redeemable at Target, Wal-Mart or Amazon.com if they pass a
test on whether they have had a cigarette.

A study of 415 cocaine and methamphetamine users published last
October in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that they stayed
in treatment longer if they had a chance to win a prize.

Lisa Marsch, a researcher with the National Development and Research
Institutes, runs a program at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Centre in
New York that offers teenagers medication, counseling and reward
vouchers for testing clean for drugs like heroin.

"It can be a very powerful technique," she said. "If it increases
their motivation to stay clean even a little, it's worth doing."

Teens in Marsch's program must submit three urine samples a week.
Pass, and the patient gets a voucher that can be used to buy
something. The amounts start small but rise with every clean result.
The second test might be worth $3.75, the third, $5. A person who
remains drug-free for two months could earn as much as $596 in all.

You can't buy cigarettes or alcohol with the vouchers. But almost
anything else is OK - sneakers, CDs, an iPod. The catch is, if the
patient tests positive, his or her next clean sample will be worth
only the minimum, or $2.50.

If past research is a guide, teens getting the vouchers will stay
clean at rates roughly 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than if they
had counseling and medication alone, Marsch said.

It is unclear how successful such programs are in the long term.
Almost all patients eventually have at least one relapse.