Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/health/meth-addiction-treatment-contingency-management.html

archive link: https://archive.ph/ZSMxk

In recent years, meth, a highly addictive stimulant, has been spreading aggressively across the country, rattling communities and increasingly involved in overdoses. Lacking a medical treatment, a growing number of clinics are trying a startlingly different strategy: To induce patients to stop using meth, they pay them.

The approach has been around for decades, but most clinics were uneasy about adopting it because of its bluntly transactional nature. Patients typically come in twice a week for a urine drug screen. If they test negative, they are immediately handed a small reward: a modest store voucher, a prize or debit card cash. The longer they abstain from use, the greater the rewards, with a typical cumulative value of nearly $600. The programs, which usually last three to six months, operate on the principle of positive reinforcement, with incentives intended to encourage repetition of desired behavior — somewhat like a parent who permits a child to stay up late as a reward for good grades.

Research shows that the approach, known in addiction treatment as “contingency management,” or CM, produces better outcomes for stimulant addiction than counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy. Follow-up studies of patients a year after they successfully completed programs show that about half remained stimulant-free.

Even those who are uncomfortable with the general concept are starting to come around, said Dr. Sally Satel, medical director at a methadone clinic in Washington, D.C., and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “Most people recoil at paying people to do the right thing,” she said. “But we’ve got plenty of data that shows this works. So I think we just have to bite the utilitarian bullet.”

[Haggard Celine]

1. I hope it works,

for both the community and the individuals in the grip of addiction. It's a better idea than hiring more cops and contributing to the slave labor prisons.