Family Surrogates? The Drug Culture or the Methadone Maintenance Program

Review af existing treatment methods coupled with extensive clinical contact with outpatient methadone maintenance clients suggests that, the primary difficulty in treatment u nut in the chemical properties af the drug “per se” but rather what the drug represents – a sustaining familial life style system. Item analysis of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles indicates that social deviance is incorporated as an adopted life style which extremely resistant to change. The tenacity with which the individual dings to the drug abuse life style is an indicant of the support provided by the drug culture and is indicative of the amount of support which must be provided before any permanent change can be effected.