Giving cash to people in drug rehab doesn't actually lead to them spending that money on more drugs.
There is a deep-seated policy fear that 'contingency management' (paying people for clean drug tests) effectively subsidizes an addict's habit. This analysis shows that the financial rewards increase treatment attendance without any corresponding increase in nonmedical substance use.
Contingency Management for Buprenorphine Does Not Increase Nonmedical Substance Use: A Secondary Analysis
SSRN · 6446210
IntroductionContingency management (CM) is a viable intervention for increasing buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder engagement. This study is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of CM for buprenorphine treatment that originally found CM to increase treatment attendance and adherence (urine positive for buprenorphine and negative for other opioids). This secondary analysis examined whether receipt of financial incentives led to increases in nonmedical substance use d