The Effect of Methadone Prescribing in a Clinic Setting on the Criminal Activity of Drug Users

The objective was to examine the impact of clinic attendance and methadone prescribing on drug user criminality. Fifty-four consecutive attenders at a Drug Problem Clinic were interviewed by questionnaire. An objective assessment of the criminality on 49(91%) of the above was made by examining their conviction details, before and after clinic attendance. Seventy-seven per cent strongly agreed that fewer criminal charges had been preferred since attendance at the clinic had begun and drugs prescribed. No statistically significant difference was found in the conviction numbers for the group as a whole: mean 3.9 (before) to 3.2 (after): p = 0.24, or for the females in particular: mean 2.8 (before) to 5.9 (after): p = 0.97. There was, however, a significant drop in the number of convictions amongst the males: mean 4.3 (before) to 2.5 (after): p = 0.02. This study confirms an association between methadone maintenance therapy in a clinic setting and a reduction in criminality amongst males.