Manifest and Latent Components in Methadone Maintenance: The Methadone Maintenance Game

Abstract

Community agencies may be analyzed along a continuum from major responsibility in community protection to major responsibility in individual client self-actualization. Many agencies however fall in the middle of this continuum, having blurred purposes. Manifestly they exist for the amelioration of human needs while also serving simultaneous community functions. This paper discusses various difficulties which arise when the staff of a methadone maintenance clinic must come to grips with the manifest and latent issues in service delivery. A solution is suggested which involves severing the tie between methadone and the behaviors which are reinforced by its use.