In the Washington metropolitan area, local publicly supported programs are operating at full capacity. Even so, there are far more regular drug users than people in treatment, so the potential demands on the system could increase even if indicators of drug usage among youth remain stable for some years. There is a particular need for innovative programs for PCP abusers, who constitute a group of young clients with special problems requiring a range of diagnostic and therapeutic skills. Local funding to develop such programs may be especially necessary since PCP abuse is not so prominent elsewhere in the Nation. Research on the effectiveness of drug treatment programs is not so well developed that firm conclusions can be drawn on what works for which clients abusing which drugs. Overall, the results from nationwide studies, both of drug and alcohol treatment, suggest that some treatment is better than none. Partly as a result of a policy to get heroin users off methadone and into other forms of treatment, heroin users may now be in less regular contact with the health system, which could be a dangerous trend given the threat of AIDS from intravenous drug use. 5 tables, 1 figure.