By Deborah Gilbert

News and Information Services

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) has received a grant of nearly $2 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to continue ISR’s National Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey through 1994.

The survey, which evaluates the operations of a national sample of 550 drug treatment units, was conducted first in 1988 and again in 1990.

“As a result of the grant, we will be able to analyze critical changes that occur in drug abuse treatment as health care reform gains momentum,” says principal investigator Thomas D’Aunno, associate professor of health services management and policy.

The 1988 and 1990 surveys discovered a number of problems in drug treatment, he said. They include:

Decreases in the medical and social services provided by drug treatment centers.

Insufficient time on and dosages of methadone. “As a result, tens of thousands of heroin addicts are at risk for relapse to needle use and HIV infection,” D’Aunno says.

Limited access to drug abuse treatment for low-income clients. “For-profit and private, non-profit units are much more likely than public units to turn away clients who lack insurance or personal funds,” D’Aunno says.

Although in 1988–90 there was a significant increase in HIV prevention efforts, 25 percent of all units nevertheless decreased or ceased such efforts.

“We will continue to monitor these issues. In addition, we will explore two new ones, including how responsive treatment units are to the needs of women and minorities in treatment,” D’Aunno says. “We also will look at what the units are doing to link clients to the health care services they need.”

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