Payments of up to $40 per week have been given to meth users who quit. Program participants are required to visit a clinic three times weekly for a drug test; clean urines are rewarded with a check, and participants are not even required to go to counseling as part of the deal, even if they fail a drug test.

"Here I am getting clean, I feel better and I'm getting something for it," said former meth addict Robert Bowers. "That means something."

Experts say that many addicts respond very well to rewards, even small ones, that acknowledge their progress toward sobriety. "You're using the exact same technique that parents use with their children every day," said Nancy Petry of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. "It's behavior modification and behavior shaping."

The 12-week San Francisco program has had 159 participants since November 2004; backers see it as an effective and inexpensive alternative for those who can't get into treatment or are on waiting lists.

A recent UCLA study found that a cash voucher program for meth addicts was actually more effective in producing clean urine tests than a therapy program lacking a reward component. "Clearly, it wasn't the money," said UCLA researcher Steven Shoptaw. "It was the fact that somebody recognized them."

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by nickm@sc on 04 Dec 08 05:51 PM EST

While this program might be somewhat effective, it is not a solution to the problem. Paying addicts money to stop using drugs is not going stop them from using drugs all together. They might be able to control their habits for a while, but eventually they will end up taking the money and buying more drugs with it. Forty dollars a week per person may not seem like too much, but when you add up all the participants and multiply it by the number of weeks in a year, you can easily find that the cost of taxpayers dollars DIRECTLY going to meth addicts is a large amount. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping drug addicts with treatment, but a government handout is absolutely not the answer. The money should instead be going to fund more treatment programs. There is also the problem that the system can easily be cheated, like the addicts may be cheating the drug tests, or may be using the money to buy other drugs, cigarettes or alcohol... which in my opinion can cause just as much harm.

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