DOES TREATMENT REALLY WORK?

This is the seventh story in a 13-week series that focuses on drug
addiction in Butler County. This is also the first of three stories that
will focus on substance abuse treatment.

On May 9, Gov. Don Siegelman awarded a $1.08 million grant to the Alabama
Department of Corrections for a substance abuse treatment program. The goal
of the program is to ensure that ex-inmates do not relapse into drug abuse
by treating them before they return to society. "Drug abuse has a close
association with other types of crime," said Siegelman. "This grant
provides additional drug treatment for inmates and reduces the chances that
they will return to drugs or commit other crimes to support their habit
upon release." Douglas J. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D., director of the Section on
Criminal Justice Research at the Treatment Research Institute at the
University of Pennsylvania said that 67 - 75 percent of state inmates, and
33 percent of federal inmates have a history of a repeated habit after
being released. "Eighty percent of U.S. jail and prison inmates were
intoxicated at the time of the offense, and 80 percent also have a
futherance of a drug habit after serving time," he said at the spring
conference of the Addiction Studies Program for Journalists. The state
Department of Corrections also reported similar results. They reported,
"Approximately 80 percent of the 6,500 inmates taken into the prison system
annually have a history of drug abuse. About 3,200 inmates enter prison
with a drug addiction." Correction officials also report that "successful
drug treatment reduces crime, homelessness, health care costs, risky sexual
behavior and the chances that an ex-inmate will return to prison." Marlowe
said that although some approaches to treatment have worked with
ex-inmates, others haven't. He said that 85 percent of criminals relapse in
one year and that 55 percent re-offend and that 70 percent of drug users
re-offend at some point. "If we treat them in prison, only 25 percent
receive treatment, and criminal recidivism (a return to previous unlawful
activity) is reduced from 55 percent to 45 percent. But, it generally has
no effect on a relapse to drug abuse," he said. Marlowe also discussed
"intermediate sanctions," that is, intensive supervised probation, house
arrest, electronic monitoring and boot camp. "Recidivism doesn't go up, and
it doesn't seem they are getting any better. Boot camp research shows no
improvement," he said. "In addition, most of these programs do not involve
treatment. Probation and parole officers are good at monitoring, but not
good at treatment." A third program used the basis of referral as
treatment. "Of those that do show up, 40 percent drop out within three
months, and 90 percent drop out within 12 months. The waiting lists also
are long which lessen the chances of a client showing up," said Marlowe.
The program recently implemented through grants was made available by the
U.S. Department of Justice, and will be administered by the Alabama
Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Part 1
US AL: From Use To Addiction - The Stages Of Drug Use
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n925/a01.html

Part 2
US AL: Drug Use Through The Ages
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n945/a03.html

Part 4
US AL: Drug Policy From 1870 - 1970
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n985/a03.html

Part 5
US AL: Drug Policy Since 1970
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1038/a09.html

Part 7
US AL: Does Treatment Really Work?
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1143/a01.html

Part 8
US AL: Overcoming The Barriers