Straight, Incorporated - Treatment Effectiveness

Treatment Effectiveness

A 1989 study in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment conducted interviews with 222 patients of Straight's Virginia facility at least six months after their treatment ended. (Two thirds of these patients had graduated from the program, while one-third had left before graduation.) Before starting treatment at Straight, 97% of these individuals had used marijuana, 56% had used cocaine and 25% had used opiates such as heroin. After leaving the program, 26% reported using marijuana, 14% reported using cocaine and 4% reported using opiates. 35% of former clients reported feeling very satisfied with their experience at Straight, 35% reported feeling somewhat satisfied, 18% reported feeling somewhat dissatisfied and 12% reported feeling very dissatisfied. 53% of patients reported that Straight helped them "a lot", 21% reported that the program helped them "a fair amount", 18% reported that it helped them "a little" and 8% reported that it did not help them at all.

After following a young man through Straight for over a year, journalist David Finkel reported feeling ambivalent about the program. Finkel observed "phenomenal changes" in the subject of his articles, and noted that the young man had stopped using drugs and that his attitude and his relationship with his parents had improved dramatically. But Finkel also felt that Straight was "imperfect in many ways", and criticized the high staff turnover at all levels of the organization, the lack of diversity among Straight clients and the organization's policy of holding minors against their will, if a parent consented. Finkel described this last policy as "unnecessary" and "potentially abusive". Finkel concluded that he wouldn't consider Straight for his child if she was using drugs experimentally, but that he might try the program if his child had a more severe drug problem and other treatment options, such as counseling, had not succeeded.