Termination of the drug career. An interview study of 58 ex-addicts

Fifty-eight ex-addicts, representing 87% of a group found to be drug-free at an earlier 3-year follow-up, have been the target group of an interview study, which aimed at elucidating various phases of the drug career. It was found that drug abusers tend to break their drug-taking habits either early (before 2 years of abuse) or late (after 6 years or more). Those who abandoned the drug career early regarded giving up drugs as easy and had often been supported by relatives and drug-free friends. Their dominating reason for giving up drugs was adverse drug reactions, or infectious complications. Those who abandoned the career late reported that it had been a difficult process and that they had received little or no support from friends and relatives. To a large extent they had resorted to the aid of outpatient clinics. This group of ex-addicts gave as their most common reason for giving up drugs: they had grown tired of the life of a street addict. The considerable number of critics of psychiatric inpatient treatment (74% rated inpatient clinics as moderately important or unimportant) casts doubt on present treatment approaches. A simplified clinical description of the drug carrer is given, where attention is focussed on three stages within the process of de-addiction.