Facilities for treatment and rehabilitation of narcotic drug users and addicts.

RUG addiction is a social problem D which has long been of great concern to law-enforcement agencies as well as to the medical profession and public health agencies. The considerable concern that has been expressed in recent years over the lack of adequate treatment and rehabilitation facilities for drug users and addicts has tended to obscure the extent to which substantial efforts have been made to provide such facilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the range and extent of existing programs for treatment and rehabilitation in the United States. A systematic scrutiny of the facilities available throughout the United States enabled us to identify 165 governmental and nongovernmental programs. It proved possible to classify the type of facility, the number of narcotic users seen in a 12month period, the type and number of personnel involved in providing services to narcotic users, the types of services provided, and the criteria used in accepting applicants. In addition, the facilities were classified by their sponsorship, i.e., governmental or nongovernmental, as well as by the relative need for services in a particular area. This latter categorization was accomplished by relating the programs reported in a particular state to one of four groups, in accordance with the drug addiction rate per 100,000 population based on the number of known active narcotic users recorded by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics as of December 31, 1961. Group I had the greatest proportion of users to population, Group II the second greatest proportion, Group III the third greatest proportion and Group IV had the smallest proportion. For purposes of this report, the District of Columbia is regarded as a state. Agencies in 13 states did not supply any data. Ten of these states were classified in Group IV. Table 1 gives the four groups and the states that are included in each group. As one would expect, programs tended to be concentrated in areas of greatest need. Half the programs reported were found in states with the highest drug use rate, Group I, as can be seen in Table 2. While the relationship between need