The New York State Civil Commitment Program was the largest and most expensive drug treatment program of its kind during the 1960s and 1970s. Modeled after the CALIFORNIA CIVIL Addict Program (CAP), it was established in the early 1960s in response to the dramatic rise of New York's heroin-addict population. The first reaction to the problem was expressed in the Metcalf-Volker Narcotic Addict Commitment Act of 1962, which sent arrested addicts to state mental-hygiene facilities for treatment. The total failure of this program prompted New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to substantially modify and expand the program in 1966 by creating a Narcotic Addiction Control Commission (NACC). NACC was established to administer the New York State Civil Commitment Program, which involved a major statewide network of residential treatment centers.

Six different types of centers handled the following phases of treatment: examination...