The Relative Effects of Three Approaches to the Parole Supervision of Narcotic Addicts and Cocaine Abusers

Abstract

This study examined the 1-year parole outcomes of 504 newly released parolees with a history of heroin and/or cocaine abuse who were randomly assigned, within gender, race, and primary drug of choice, to one of the following three interventions: a program of “social support,” combining weekly urine monitoring with counseling, case management, and case advocacy; weekly urine monitoring alone; and routine parole. Results indicated a superiority of social support treatment over the other two comparison conditions, particularly urine monitoring alone. Supplemental analyses indicated a general superiority of substance abuse treatment over no treatment, whether or not treatment was delivered within the social support framework.