The authors suggest that an unselected group of addicts can be engaged in treatment and that a successful outpatient methadone detoxification program can be carried out in a general hospital psychiatric emergency clinic. However, it requires a structured program, interested and trained staff members who are available on a daily basis (including some paraprofessionals), and a responsible senior staff member who can run the program, set necessary limits, and provide support for the other staff members. Such a program must be seen as only the beginning of a long-term therapeutic effort for addicts and is clearly most successful with addicts who can be reached at an early stage in their addiction.Abstract Teaser