NCJ Number
126043
Date Published
1989
Length
45 pages
Annotation
The concept of combining enforcement and treatment of narcotics addicts by forcing civil commitments to methadone maintenance programs has provided a dual approach with both rehabilitation and social control elements.
Abstract
The civil commitment programs of the 1960's include the California Civil Addict Program (CAP), the New York State Civil Commitment Program (CCP), and the Federal Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act (NARA). Of these, only the CAP was effective in reducing the demand for narcotics by heroin addicts; program participants reduced daily narcotics use and associated property crimes to levels three times lower than those reported by a comparable sample of addicts not in the program. The integrated dynamic system of social intervention for drug abuse outlined in this paper considers the level of addiction, the intervention strategies that are reasonable to apply to each level of addiction, and the movement of drug-using individuals through the levels of addiction. Several obstacles stand in the way of the successful implementation of this system: the current level of funding for drug treatment programs, the lack of outreach efforts to induce voluntary commitment by drug abusers, and problems posed by the criminal justice system. 3 tables, 3 figures, 4 notes, and 29 references.