Description
With a certificate or degree in this field, you may be able to counsel persons who have a dependency on alcohol or other drugs. These services are usually provided in community clinics, mental health agencies, or hospital outpatient programs. Courses of study may include alcohol and drug dependency, dependency counseling, crisis-intervention counseling, health law, family communication, and marriage and family therapy. The job outlook in this field is good, although the salary scale is somewhat lower than for other counseling professionals.

Medical treatment
Beyond the sociological issues, many drugs of abuse can lead to addiction, chemical dependency, or adverse health effects, such as lung cancer or emphysema from cigarette smoking.

Medical treatment therefore centers on two aspects:
1) breaking the addiction,
2) treating the health problems.

Most countries have health facilities that specialize in the treatment of drug abuse, although access may be limited to larger population centers and the social taboos regarding drug use may make those who need the medical treatment reluctant to take advantage of it. For example, it is estimated that only fifteen percent of injection drug abusers thought to be in need are receiving treatment.Patients may require acute and long-term maintenance treatment and relapse prevent ion, complemented by suitable rehabilitation.