Canada: study demonstrates positive effect of methadone treatment

A recent study on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in federal correctional institutions demonstrates that MMT has a positive impact on release outcome and on institutional behaviour. The study provides support for the need to expand access to MMT in prisons. Importantly, it concludes that the CSC may spend less money on offenders who are on MMT in the long term, saying that "the cost of the institutional MMT program may be offset by the cost savings of offenders successfully remaining in the community for a longer period of time than equivalent offenders not receiving MMT."