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Criminal involvement of cocaine users enrolled in a methadone treatment program
Author(s) -
KANG SUNGYEON,
LEON GEORGE DE
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb00827.x
Subject(s) - methadone , cocaine use , marital status , checklist , psychiatry , criminal history , psychology , medicine , cocaine dependence , addiction , clinical psychology , population , environmental health , cognitive psychology
This was a study of criminal activities of cocaine users versus non‐users enrolled in a methadone treatment program in New York City. Of those 140 methadone clients studied, 100 (71%) were cocaine users. There were no demographic differences between the two groups except marital status. Married clients (including common‐law married) were more likely than never‐married single clients to be non‐users. Cocaine users were significantly more depressed, using the subscale of the Symptom Checklist‐90. Although numbers of lifetime arrests and criminal involvement (in the year immediately preceding the research interview) of cocaine non‐users were distinctively lower than those of users, the differences were not significant. In a multiple regression analysis, length of stay in the methadone program was the strongest predictor of criminal involvement. Those who were retained longer in the treatment were significantly less likely to be involved in criminal activities, regardless of cocaine use.