Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ... Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

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.170parole departments. None were civilly committed. About 100 lived in three NTAhalfway houses. Seventy were residents almost always for less than 3 weeks, ontwo NTA detoxification wards at District of Columbia General Hospital. Theremainder, about 2,600, were outpatients. Fifty-four percent were receivingmethadone maintenance, 26 percent were in abstinence programs, and 20 percentwere receiving decreasing doses of methadone leading to abstinence.The unprecedented, sharp dip in the rate of serious crimes in Washingtonduring 1970 (see fig. 5) was widely attributed to increased police presence andparticularly to the effectiveness of the NTA treatment programs (9)How much do treatment progrwms cost?An economic study of drug addiction demonstrates that if NTA can successfullytreat only 40 percent of 1,000 patients (a low estimate on the basis ofperformance studies) the cost of treatment for 1 year will be $1,400,000. Thebenefits in terms of reduced criminal activity will be $5,750,770. This shows abenefit-cost ratio of 4.1 to 1 (6).On January 14, 1971, when NTA had 2,793 patients, the total cost »f the programwas less than $4 million a year.References(1) Kozel, N., Brown, B., DuPont, R. : "Narcotics and crime: a study of narcoticsinvolvement in an offender population." Narcotics Treatment Administration,1971.(2) Glendinning, S. : "District of Columbia coroner's office study." NarcoticsTreatment Administration, 1970.(3) Johnston, E. H., Goldbaum, R., Welton, R. L. : "Investigation of suddendeaths in addicts." Medical Annals of the District of Columbia, 38: 375-380, 1969.(4) Adams, S., Meadows, D. F., Reynolds, C. W. : "Narcotic-involved inmates inthe Department of Corrections." District of Columbia Department of CorrectionsResearch Report No. 12, 1969.(5) Robins, L. N., Murphy, G. E. : "Drug use in a normal population of youngNegro men." Am. J. Publ. Hlth., 57 : 1580-1596, 1967.(6) Holahan, J. : "The economics of drug addiction and control in Washington,D.C. : a model for estimation and costs and benefits of rehabilitation."Special Report by the Office of Planning and Research of the District ofColumbia Department of Corrections, 1970.(7) Gearing, F. R. : "Successes and failures in methadone maintenance treatmentof heroin addition in New York City." Presented at the Third NationalConference on Methadone Treatment, Nov. 14, 1970.(8) Brown, B. S., DuPont, R. L. : "6-month followup of heroin addicts in a largemultimodality treatment program." Narcotics Treatment Administration,1971.(9) DuPont, R. L. : "Urban crime and the rapid development of a large heroinaddition treatment program." Presented at the Third National Conferenceon Methadone Treatment, Nov. 16, 1970, accepted for publication in J. Am.Med. Assoc, 1971.Table 1.— The number of opioid overdose deaths each month from, July throughDecember 1970July 9August 5September 9October 8November 7December 4Total 42Average per month 7

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