Dilemmas of Iran's opium maintenance program: an action research for evaluating goal conflicts and policy changes

Much of evaluative research in the drug abuse field to date has centered on the outcome comparison of different treatment and rehabilitation modalities. Consequently, despite avowed interest in policy research by the students of drug abuse to a great extent and, in part, due to lack of research opportunities, there have not been many action-oriented evaluative policy researches even in the industrially advanced countries. On the other hand, the piecemeal accumulation of information through numerous ad hoc drug-related research activities has signaled the need for more integrated research activities on a comprehensive scale, embracing both the demand and supply dimensions of drug abuse. In the absence of substantive inputs from drug policy research, there is a real danger than the call for comprehensive approaches may once again, by default, neglect the crucial dimension of macro policy. This paper presents the findings of an action research design for evaluation of Iran's opium maintenance program. As such, the paper's primary focus is on the impact of unintended and unanticipated consequences of Iran's opium maintenance program upon treatment and rehabilitation efforts for the drug addicts. The findings here are based on a two-wave study. The first wave was carried out in the early summer of 1976. The major conclusions of the first wave suggested the need for fundamental revisions in both the eligibility requirements for and the the distribution system of opium coupons to those who legally received opium, the registered addicts. The findings of this study convinced the government to initiate a number of changes in the eligibility requirements. In addition, the authors were given the responsibility to design a new system of opium distribution for registered addicts. The second wave of the study was conducted in the spring of 1977, some 6 months after the policy revisions, in order to monitor their effects.