Compulsory supervision and methadone maintenance

Treatment outcomes of 296 subjects admitted to methadone maintenance while on probation or parole are compared to those of 314 subjects admitted without such compulsory supervision. Equivalent treatment services were offered to both groups. The pretreatment differences between groups were small except for time incarcerated. All subjects were followed for one year. The compulsory supervision group had worse outcomes with respect to retention, productive activity, and incarceration. The differences were small except for incarceration. The mean number of months incarcerated was 2.1 for the compulsory supervision group and 0.7 for the voluntary group. Of subjects discharged from treatment, a higher percentage of the compulsory supervision group was discharged because of incarceration, but a higher percentage of the voluntary group was discharged for noncompliance with program requirements. The findings do not support a policy of exclusion of opioid users from methadone maintenance because they are on probation or parole.