Toronto Drug Treatment Court: Participant Intake Characteristics as Predictors of “Successful” Program Completion

Through descriptive and multivariate analyses, program outcomes for three groups of Toronto Drug Treatment Court participants (TDTC) were compared focusing on their substance use, legal, and socioeconomic differences at entry into the program, and their compliance behaviors during the first month of the program. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that graduate and expelled non-engaged participants were significantly different from the moment they started the program. At the time of application to the program expelled non-engaged participants used crack/cocaine on more days in the prior 90-day period, were in custody at their first TDTC appearance, had more criminal convictions over their lifetime, reported more recent substance use, and committed more breaches of their bail conditions than the other two participant groups. However, differences between graduate and expelled-engaged participants were not as clear, indicating important program outcome similarities between the two groups and how drug treatment court success should be conceptualized and measured.