Treatment Program Clients and Emergency Room Patients: A Comparison of Two Drug-Using Samples

Abstract

Research on institutionalized drug abusers has produced a profile of drug users which at times has been applied improperly to all individuals who manifest drug-related problems. This study compares a sample of drug treatment clients with a sample of emergency room patients who have acute drug reaction problems to ascertain the extent to which the traditional profile of drug abusers accurately describes both of these drug-using groups. The conclusion is that the treatment client sample does resemble the profile, but the emergency room patient sample does not. Treatment implications of this conclusion are discussed.

Street‐level drug law enforcement and entry into methadone maintenance treatment

“…If the effect of drug law enforcement on treatment entry is cumulative, a history of contact with police and/or the criminal justice system should predict treatment experience. Chitwood & Chitwood (1981) compared the characteristics of 206 randomly chosen drug users in long-term treatment for drug dependence and 103 randomly chosen patients attending a county emergency room for the treatment of an acute drug-related problem. Bivariate comparisons showed that those in the long-term treatment programme were much more likely to have an arrest record than those attending an emergency room for treatment of acute drug problems.…”