The Eagleville Hospital and Rehabilitation Center Family Study Program is described, presenting an overview of the Family Research Study and the problem areas inherent in coordinating research with a new treatment program; an analysis of the sample of drug abusers, their families, and their course in family treatment is discussed. The Community School Program is included as a demonstration of the potential for effective primary prevention. Areas of promise for future development are reviewed as they provide direction for further clinical and research work with the family and drug abuse.

The authors propose that substance use and abuse may be understood and effectively treated when the individual user or abuser is viewed in the context of his family or stable living group. This viewpoint attributes an important role in the maintenance of individual substance abuse to interactional processes within the family system. The theoretical assumptions implied by this viewpoint are discussed. A selective literature review examines the available evidence, from both experimental and clinical-descriptive studies, that is relevant to this proposal. The next step toward a more systematic investigation of these ideas is outlined, including testable hypotheses, methodological issues and problems, and potentially useful techniques.

A self-assessment survey instrument was developed for the purposes of detecting abuse of both alcohol and other drugs in patients using a large urban medical center. Both widely-used quantity-frequency criteria and social consequences criteria were incorporated. This paper describes the use of the SUAS in a diverse sample of more than 5,000 patients. A high degree of patient acceptance is documented. This finding was contrary t o the expectations of many of the physicians who gave permission for their patients to be interviewed. Utility of the instrument as an adjunct to the usual medical history is proposed.