Treatment program clients and emergency room patients: a comparison of two drug-using samples

Research on institutionalized drug abusers has produced a profile of drug users which at times has been applied improperly to all individuals who manifest drug-related problems. This study compares a sample of drug treatment clients with a sample of emergency room patients who have acute drug reaction problems to ascertain the extent to which the traditional profile of drug abusers accurately describes both of these drug-using groups. The conclusion is that the treatment client sample does resemble the profile, but the emergency room patient sample does not. Treatment implications of this conclusion are discussed.