Treatment partly depends on the drug that is used and the personality of the affected person. Treatment is complex. Often it must address the addiction as well as the person's mental and physical health, and any work or social problems that occur. Effective treatment may include behavioral therapy, medicines, or some combination of these. This is important for those who use needles to inject drugs or trade sex for drugs, for example.
Drug abuse is a chronic problem.
There may need to be several kinds and numbers of therapies. The greatest side effect of treatment is the tendency to relapse back into drug abuse and addiction. Monitoring and therapy are needed at least until a person can function fully and long-term abstinence, or avoidance of drug use, has been achieved. Monitoring may include the use of drug tests. These can be urine, saliva, or blood tests.