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What Works: An International Perspective on Drug Abuse Treatment and Prevention Research

NCJ Number
120049
Author(s)
J K Stewart
Date Published
1989
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This document addresses the new methods being investigated in drug abuse treatment and prevention.
Abstract
One reason the drug problem is so pervasive today is that society defined the problem incorrectly during the 1960s and 1970s as solely a problem of the criminal justice system. Due to limited resources and lack of public interest in sanctioning users, drug use was, in effect, decriminalized. However, recent anti-drug strategy has borne a national program for measuring drug use among the people who are the greatest risk to society - those arrested for crimes. Called Drug Use Forecasting (DUF), this program is providing information about drug use by criminals and criminal suspects and can predict crime rates six months to a year in advance. Another effective tool, pretrial drug testing, can both help control crime and reduce demand for drugs by those on pretrial release.