Termination of the drug career: AN INTERVIEW STUDY OF 58 EX‐ADDICTS

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Abstract
Fifty‐eight ex‐addicts, representing 87 % of a group found to be drug‐free at an earlier 3‐year follow‐up, have been the target group of an interview study, which aimed at elucidating various phases of the drug career. It was found that drug abusers tend to break their drug‐taking habits either early (before 2 years of abuse) or late (after 6 years or more). Those who abandoned the drug career early regarded giving up drugs as easy and had often been supported by relatives and drug‐free friends. Their dominating reason for giving up drugs was adverse drug reactions, or infectious complications. Those who abandoned the career late reported that it had been a difficult process and that they had received little or no support from friends and relatives. To a large extent they had resorted to the aid of outpatient clinics. This group of ex‐addicts gave as their most common reason for giving up drugs: they had grown tired of the life of a street addict. The considerable number of critics of psychiatric inpatient treatment (74 % rated inpatient clinics as moderately important or unimportant) casts doubt on present treatment approaches.A simplified clinical description of the drug career is given, where attention is focussed on three stages within the process of de‐addiction.

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