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Chapter 4
Effectiveness Of Methadone Treatment:
A Review Of Outcomes
Joan E. Zweben, Ph.D.
Over 40 years of research documents the efficacy of methadone,
particularly its impact on issues of public health and safety.
Methadone treatment has been shown to reduce illicit drug use and
drug-associated crime; slow the spread of HIV and facilitate
intervention for hepatitis C (HCV); and improve health status,
neonatal outcomes, psychiatric status, participation in employment,
and family functioning. As emphasis grows on the importance of
using treatments based on research evidence, the extensive literature
on a variety of outcomes has helped reduce the stigma and other
barriers to access.
In order to understand the effects of treatment, it is important to have a
picture of the natural history of a disorder if it is untreated or
inadequately treated. Thus one of the most important studies is not
about methadone treatment at all (Hser, Hoffman, Grella, & Anglin,
2001). It is a longitudinal study of heroin users that examined their
