The Drug Abuse Treatment System: Prospects for Reform

by John G. Haaga, Elizabeth A. McGlynn

Among various issues for increasing the effectiveness of the drug abuse treatment system are matching clients with treatment programs and improving program accountability. From a practical perspective, no tool is currently available to assist agencies make better matches, and in many communities the number of alternatives (i.e., truly different program content and philosophy) is limited. Moreover, there is no conclusive scientific evidence to support any particular matching strategy. And it is unclear whether the policy goal should be to improve the probability of positive individual outcomes or to reduce aggregate drug use. Research is needed to inform the practical and theoretical issues. Although improved accountability is clearly needed, previous approaches have not been successful. New proposals for outcome monitoring are worth pursuing, although providers' responses could defeat the purpose of reforms. Finally, there is a need for studies that will help set reasonable performance standards.

37 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 1995

About the author

John Haaga is the Director of Division of Behavioral and Social Research (DBSR) in the USA's National Institute of Health.

John Haaga has served since May 2016 as Director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research in the National Institute on Aging. From 2004 to 2015 he was Deputy Director, and from April 2015 Acting Director, of the division. He leads NIA’s extramural program funding research in economics, demography, epidemiology, cognitive science and social neurosciences, behavioral genetics, and health services research related to aging. This program includes major data collection and dissemination in the United States and cross-national comparative research on global health and aging. Dr. Haaga also serves as coordinator for the trans-NIH Common Fund Program in Health Economics. He teaches at the University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, and has previously taught at Georgetown University and the Defense Intelligence College.

Before joining NIA, he was Director of Domestic Programs and of the NIH-funded Center for Public Information on Population Research at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research and education organization. During 1994-97 he was staff director for the Committee on Population of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served as President of the Association of Population Centers and Secretary-Treasurer and elected member of the Board of Directors for the Population Association of America. From 1991 to 1994 he directed extension research in family planning and maternal and child health at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. During the 1980s, Dr. Haaga was a Policy Analyst in RAND and a Research Associate for the Cornell University International Nutrition program. He has lived and worked in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Kenya, and worked for short periods in Indonesia, India, Kenya, Lesotho and Botswana. His PhD in Public Policy was awarded by the RAND Graduate School, and he has a BA (first-class honors) in Modern History from Oxford University and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University.