Benefits of recurrent, outpatient heroin detoxification

Recurrent heroin detoxification, or the "revolving-door" process, is the treatment of choice for many addicts. Forty-five heroin addicts were detoxified 145 times (mean = 3.2 per patient) on an outpatient basis over a 3-year period and showed significant improvement in arrest and hospitalization rates but not employment or intact marriages. Another group of 74 patients who had detoxified two or more times were compared to a similar group of 61 methadone maintenance (mean maintenance time = 17.9 weeks) patients, and no significant difference was found in a variety of health, employment, and social indicators. These findings indicate that recurrent, outpatient heroin detoxification has some therapeutic benefits and provides an explanation for patient popularity.