This survey was conducted as part of an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) assessment on medical testing and health insurance that will be published at a later date. OTA is also monitoring AIDS-related developments for the U.S. Congress, and the survey results are being published by OTA as the second in a series of Staff Papers on AIDS-related issues.

This Background Paper examines the evidence of the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment; it also evaluates the role that such treatment might play in reducing the spread of HIV. Because most intravenous drug users are not in treatment, the paper also examines other approaches to HIV prevention among this high-risk group.