Reduction of Crime Rates and Criminal Behaviour. The second specific benefit that this article will consider is the impact that MMT has in reducing crime rates and criminal behaviour. While it has not yet been shown that drugs cause crime, some research studies have demonstrated that MMT is effective in reducing crime rates (Anglin and Maugh 1992, Capelhorn and Dalton 1994, Simoens et al. 2002).

In addition, Millar (1998) commented that:

The criminal activity needed to purchase illegal drugs affects people in all communities through burglaries, robberies, and other forms of personal and property crime. Moreover, the costs associated with the criminal justice system…represent a considerable burden on the taxpayer. This ‘opportunity cost’ means that tax dollars are not available for such needed purposes as effective health care interventions, the provision of quality child care, or government debt and deficit reduction (pg. 4).

Reduction of Heroin Use. The third specific benefit that will be discussed in this article is the impact that MMT has in reducing heroin use. To be sure, Strain et al. (1993) found that clients who received 50 mg of methadone per day showed lower rates of opioid-positive urine samples (56.4% compared to 67.6% and 73.6% for the 20 mg and 0 mg groups respectively, p < 0.05). As well, maintaining clients on 80 mg of methadone per day until they can be enrolled in a standard MMTP has been found to reduce heroin use (from 63% positive at intake to 29% positive at one month) (Yancovitz et al. 1991).

Other research studies that have shown MMT to be effective in reducing illicit heroin use include: Anglin and Maugh 1992, Capelhorn and Dalton 1994, Simoens et al. 2002.

Benefits When MMT is Accompanied by Additional Treatment. Finally, this article will consider the specific benefits of MMT when it is accompanied by additional treatment. In fact, numerous studies have consistently revealed promising results with respect to combining MMT with additional treatment.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (2001), the provision of MMT when combined with counseling is typically believed to produce greater positive effects than does MMT alone. Indeed, Simoens et al. (2002) have established that combining MMTP’s with increased and quality counseling, as well as medical and other services, results in the provision of more effective treatment.

Other researchers have found that “[t]he provision of medical services and psychosocial services in addition to methadone maintenance produced improvements in employment status, social functioning, risk-taking behaviours, criminal activity, and psychiatric status” (McLellan, Arndt, Metzger, Woody and O’Brien 1993, Woody, McLellan, Luborsky and O’Brien 1995).

In addition, Millar (1998) stated that:

For any therapeutic intervention to be effective, there must also be provision for such needs as housing, social support, vocational training, and treatment of co-existing mental illness and medical conditions like HIV. Given these, then methadone treatment is recognized as being very effective in achieving the harm reduction objectives of reducing injection drug use and criminal activity and unprotected sexual activity. In some studies, 70-80% of heroin IDUs show significant improvements in these areas (p. 19).

¹ Research into the relationship between drugs and crime has called into question the assumption that drugs, in and of them selves, cause crime (see the Brothers article in this volume). In fact, the best explanation for a connection between illegal drugs and crime relates to the “economic compulsive” model which says that many drug users resort to crimes of acquisitiveness to get money buy drugs that are prohibitively expensive, like cocaine and heroin. It is the existence of prohibitionist drug laws, of course, that inflate the price of these substances.