Drug use career and treatment history of opiate addicts inside and outside treatment

The aim of this article is to find out whether opiate addicts who apply for three types of treatment and opiate addicts outside treatment differ in aspects of drug use career and treatment history. Respondents were interviewed in four settings: a low threshold methadone programme (n = 90); a clinical detoxification programme (n = 58); a therapeutic community (TC) programme (n = 81); and outside treatment (n = 81). Data collected with the Addiction Severity Index are used. The results indicate that differences exist among the groups. These are largest between the group outside treatment and the TC group for aspects of both drug use career and treatment history. After controlling for confounding (demographic) variables, it appears that respondents in the TC mention most treatment episodes in most different types of treatment during a length of drug use that appears to be comparable for respondents in the four settings.