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A systems approach to drug user services
Author(s) -
Schlenger William E.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830180210
Subject(s) - conceptualization , component (thermodynamics) , population , computer science , drug user , intervention (counseling) , drug , service (business) , risk analysis (engineering) , process management , computer security , business , internet privacy , knowledge management , medicine , marketing , pharmacology , environmental health , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , physics , thermodynamics
Abstract The use and abuse of drugs in America is receiving increasing public attention. Community responses to the drug problem often have been haphazard and poorly planned. This paper proposes a systems framework for studying the provision of services to drug users. The phenomenon of providing services to drug users is conceived of as a flow system with four major structural components: (1) the drug user population; (2) the nonuser population; (3) the service component; and (4) the legal component. A computer model based on this conceptualization is described, and results from the simulation of several intervention strategies are presented and compared. Discussion is centered on the costs of providing service associated with each of the strategies and on the effect of each strategy on the size of the drug user population.