A therapeutic workplace for the long-term treatment of drug addiction and unemployment: Eight-year outcomes of a social business intervention

• A therapeutic workplace social business was evaluated in drug-dependent women.
• A therapeutic workplace social business maintained long-term cocaine abstinence.
• A therapeutic workplace social business maintained long-term opiate abstinence.
• A therapeutic workplace social business promoted employment.
• Most therapeutic workplace social business effects did not last after it closed.

This study evaluated the long-term effects of a therapeutic workplace social business on drug abstinence and employment. Pregnant and postpartum women (N = 40) enrolled in methadone treatment were randomly assigned to a therapeutic workplace or usual care control group. Therapeutic workplace participants could work weekdays in training and then as employees of a social business, but were required to provide drug-free urine samples to work and maintain maximum pay. Three-year outcomes were reported previously. This paper reports 4- to 8-year outcomes. During year 4 when the business was open, therapeutic workplace participants provided significantly more cocaine- and opiate-negative urine samples than controls; reported more days employed, higher employment income, and less money spent on drugs. During the 3 years after the business closed, therapeutic workplace participants only reported higher income than controls. A therapeutic workplace social business can maintain long-term abstinence and employment, but additional intervention may be required to sustain effects.