In January 1998 the Merchant's Quay Project began the Integra Programme 'From Residential Drug Treatment to Employment' as a response to a gap in service provision which highlighted the difficulty of former drug users in accessing employment, training and educational opportunities once they have acquired a drug free status. This interim report presents an account of the first operational year of the Integra Programme. Chapter One provides the rationale for the Integra Programme and firmly locates the need for such an intervention within the current social and economic climate. International research has repeatedly linked drug use with poverty and unemployment.

Chapter Two provides a detailed description of the origins and development of the Programme, and identifies the target groups of the intervention; former drug users, trainers and employers. Chapter Three describes the research methodology employed in evaluating the Integra Programme, and is largely concerned with the quantitative research methodology and it details the four designed research instruments.

In Chapter Four the quantitative data collected over the first year of the Integra Programme is presented. This data provides a brief client profile in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and examines the success of the Integra Programme in reaching its client target population. Chapter Five details some of the issues encountered during the initial year of the Programme, and the follow-up measures undertaken by the staff and management of Integra. The Report concludes with Chapter Six providing a brief but concise overview of the Integra Programme.

The report concludes that the Integra Programme has the ability to provide the clients with the support, training and job placement opportunities necessary to ease their insertion into the labour market. This in turn, has the potential to provide former drug users with the chance- in many cases for the first time- to participate, through employment, in mainstream society.