METHADONE & CRIMINALITYFifa Rahman, LLB (Hons), MHL (Health Law) (Sydney)Policy Manager, Malaysian AIDS Councilfifarahman@outlook.com/010-2566097

Research & Summary of Findings• Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) has positive

impacts on drug-related HIV risk behaviours, mortality, and criminality. Fullerton et al. ‘Medication-Assisted Treatment With Methadone: Assessing the Evidence’ (2014) 65(2) Psychiatric Services 146-157

• In a study of 304 MMT patients, by self-report, crime dropped promptly and substantially on entry to treatment, to a level of acquisitive crime about one-eight that reported during the last addiction period. Analysis of official records indicated that rates of acquisitive convictions were significantly lower in the in-treatment period compared to prior to entry to treatment, corroborating the changes suggested by self-report. James Bell, ‘Methadone Maintenance and Drug-Related Crime’ (1997) 9 Journal of Substance Abuse 15-25

Research & Summary of Findings (cont.)

• Data was obtained from 617 patients. The reduction in criminality after admission to methadone maintenance treatment was dramatic; all 14 types of crime declined markedly - most over 80 percent. The reduction in criminality was associated with time in treatment. J. Bali, E. Corty, H. Bond, C. Myers and A. Tommasello, ‘The Reduction of Intravenous Heroin Use, Non-Opiate Abuse and Crime During Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Further Findings’ (1988) 81 NIDA Res Monogr 224-230.

• After entry to MMT, the total number of self-reported offences declined to 50,103 crimes per year, while the mean number of crime days per year decreased from 238 to 69. The number of crime days continued to decline with the number of years spent in treatment. Wayne Hall, Methadone Maintenance Treatment as a Crime Control Measure (1996) 29 Crime and Justice Bulletin, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research

Research & Summary of Findings (cont.)

• …found that, for every 100 persons in methadone for one year, New South Wales gets 12 fewer robberies, 57 fewer break-and-enters and 56 fewer motor-vehicle thefts. Bronwyn Lind, Shuling Chen, Don Weatherburn, and Richard Mattick, The Effectiveness Of Methadone Maintenance Treatment In Controlling Crime: An Australian Aggregate-Level Analysis (2005) 45(2) British Journal of Criminology 201-211

• Sixty percent of participants said they had been committing crime daily before MMT, compared with only 1% after 57 months on MMT. There was a large reduction in costs of crime and imprisonment to society, which was conservatively estimated at $55,386 per drug user per year. I Sheerin, T Green, D Sellman, S Adamson, D Deering, ‘Reduction in crime by drug users on a methadone maintenance therapy programme in New Zealand’ (2004) 117(1190) The New Zealand Medical Journal 1-10