Significance of the Robins et al. Vietnam Veterans Study

摘要

In the 1960s if any fact about illicit drug use could be considered incontrovertible it was that opiate dependence was permanent and virtually incurable even with the most vigorous treatment efforts available. The most intensive treatment at the time was extended hospitalization at one of the Federal Medical Centers in Lexington and Fort Worth梩he so-called "Narcotics Farms." Treatment often involved incarceration, and continued for as long as the staffs felt necessary. However, despite such intensive intervention, 90% of the patients relapsed after release, 70% within the first 6 months of discharge. Such pessimistic outcomes understandably lead to the widespread belief that opiate addiction was intractable and that even experimental use of this illicit drug was like playing Russian roulette with one bullet chamber empty.