The program combined traditional group counseling and therapy accompanied by acupuncture provided by a physician. Initially, all cases referred to the program were given acupuncture treatment. Once the acupuncture study began, offenders were randomly placed into one of three groups. The 182 offenders in experimental group received acupuncture regularly, the 45 members of the control group received no acupuncture, and the 43 members of the placebo group received a simulation of acupuncture. The three groups were similar with respect to demographic, criminal history, and assessment factors. They also had long and complex drug abuse histories, although they did not have long histories of other serious criminal behavior. Findings produced no evidence that acupuncture had any appreciable effect on program completion, arrests, convictions, or probation outcome. The acupuncture group also performed no worse than the control or placebo groups. Tables, footnotes, and 7 references