DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT LAUDED

Nine out of 10 drug and alcohol abusers who entered treatment programs
stayed out of jail last year, and a third of them found jobs, according to
the state's most comprehensive study of the effectiveness of
substance-abuse treatment.

Its conclusion: treatment works.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse
Services found that substance abusers in residential treatment programs
were less likely to be involved in criminal activity, to require hospital
care, or to experience psychological and social problems. They also were
more likely to abstain from drinking alcohol and using drugs.

"Every family in the Commonwealth is affected in some way by substance
abuse," said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Howard Koh. "We are
presenting treatment outcomes, and our results indicate that treatment
intervention leads to more sobriety, more employment, fewer arrests, and
improved health."

In the United States, substance abuse is estimated to cost $246 billion a
year in health care services, crime, auto accidents, and lost productivity.
A University of California study indicated that for every dollar spent on
substance-abuse treatment, the average taxpayer saves $7 in future costs
tied to alcohol and drug abuse.

Yet, until now, researchers had not attempted to measure the effectiveness
of substance-abuse treatment in Massachusetts in such detail.

This report has "national significance in demonstrating how effective
substance-abuse treatment programs can be," said John Auerbach, executive
director of the Boston Public Health Commission. "I have never seen a
report that is as thorough as this. Massachusetts has a particularly
well-developed system of data collection and analysis."

The report indicates that Massachusetts avoided $3.4 million in potential
intensive-care treatment costs for newborns in the 1999 fiscal year. Of the
54 babies born to patients in residential substance-abuse programs, 52 were
born at full term, had no medical complications, and were of normal birth
weight. Massachusetts saved $66,000 per child in neonatal care treatment,
according to the report.

Substance abusers getting residential treatment also were more likely to
find jobs. The study found that at the time of admission, 4 percent had
full-time jobs. Of those that completed the program, 33 percent worked
full-time.

"There are many positive outcomes of treatment," said Teresa Anderson,
research and coordination unit manager for the Bureau of Substance Abuse
Services.

About $90 million a year is invested in the state's 400 substance-abuse
treatment programs. Almost half comes from the state.

Total admissions to substance-abuse treatment programs was 115,491. Of
those, 24 percent were female, 13 percent black, and 13 percent Latino.
About 70 percent were unemployed and 16 percent were homeless. They were 35
years old on average, and two out of three graduated from high school.

Alcohol was the most abused substance, followed by heroin, cocaine, and
marijuana, according to the report.