The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was designed to investigate welfare recipients' haste in seeking employment, child care and transportation. More than 500 participants, nearly all women, were interviewed three times per year for five years about their health, drug use, criminal history, and employment. Researchers unintentionally discovered that the more participants worked, the less they used drugs.

At the beginning of the study, one-third of the participants were chronic users of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines, using drugs an average of 14 times per week. By the second year of the study, however, drug use among employed participants declined by 79 percent, dropping to an average of three times per week.

Isaac Montoya, lead researcher of The Role of Employment in Preventing Continued Drug Use Among Welfare Recipients study and clinical professor at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, believes that the findings demonstrate the therapeutic, stabilizing effects of employment.

"Employment promotes a healthy lifestyle by providing structure, income and benefits that increase self-esteem and a sense of purpose. These elements may not be provided when welfare recipients with drug problems simply attend 12-step meetings," says Montoya.

Because substance abuse is a chronic condition prone to relapses, Montoya disapproves of the zero tolerance drug testing policies adopted by many employers.

An abstract of the study can be found at: www.affiliatedsystems.com/newest.htm

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