Methadone maintenance dosage levels and program retention.

Study was made of the relationship between methadone dosage policy and retention in drug abuse treatment. Responses were obtained from administrators of 113 methadone maintenance programs representing the 11 states with the largest number of maintenance programs. It was found that program policies involving the use of flexible dosages, i.e., where no single dosage policy predominated, were associated with greater retention in treatment. Programs making use of flexible strategies retained clients an average of almost 9 months longer than those programs making use of any other dosage policy. In contrast, no differences in retention were found between high, mid, and low dose programs when effort was made to control for relevant client variables. Study is suggested to explore the relationship of service delivery elements to dosage policy within methadone maintenance programs.