The current drug abuse treatment system evolved from a number of initiatives which linked treatment to the criminal justice system and demonstrated the significance of judicial authority in the treatment of drug addiction. The Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act and the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) program have been two special Federal initiatives in the drug-crime arena. The responses from health, drug treatment, and law enforcement agencies to the Paroled Addicts in Treatment for Heroin (PATH) proposal illustrate the philosophical conflicts that underlie efforts to address the drug-crime relationship. Although drug abuse treatment was perceived as a mechanism for ensuring public safety from related crime, research on the statistical association between drug use and criminality and on the causal relationship between drug use and crime cast considerable doubt on the efficacy of these programs. However, it should be noted that 17 percent of clients enter drug treatment programs as referrals from the criminal justice system. The literature does support the theory that drug abuse treatment reduces criminality, although therapeutic community treatment remains popular in criminal justice referrals. 1 table and 37 references