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Pharmacological vs non-pharmacological treatment to reduce use and criminal activity in drug-using offenders
Summary of the evidence
Agonist pharmacological treatments for drug-using offenders were found in a systematic review (Perry et al., 2015) to have no different effect than non-pharmacological interventions in:
- reducing drug use
- measured (RR 0.72, 95 % CI 0.51 to 1.00, 2 studies, N=237)
- self-reported (RR 0.61, 95 % CI 0.31 to1.18, 3 studies, N=317)
- reducing criminal activity
- arrests (RR 0.60, 95 % CI 0.32 to 1.14, 1 study, N=62)
- re-incarceration (RR 0.77, 95 % CI 0.36 to 1.64, 3 studies, N=472)
Antagonist pharmacological treatments (Naltrexone) were found in the same review (Perry et al., 2015) to also have no different effect than non-pharmacological interventions in:
- reducing drug use (measured) (RR 0.69, 95 % CI 0.28 to 1.70, 1 study, N=63)
When comparing the drugs no significant differences between comparisons (methadone versus buprenorphine, diamorphine and naltrexone) on any of the outcome measures.
