Social services treating alcohol and drug problem are under-utilized by ethnic minor ity groups in Canada and in the United States. Despite the fact that the Chinese community makes up 3 per cent of the Canadian population and are the largest visible immigrant minority group in Canada (Statistics Canada 1997), their utiliza tion of social services is disproportionately low (Committee on Multiculturalism and Mental Health Treatment and Education, 1988a; Ja and Aoki, 1993). Low useage by Chinese people does not mean that there is no drug problem in the Chinese community; on the contrary, a growing body of literature from various sources has demonstrated that the extent of drug problems in the Chinese community is the same, if not more serious, than that of other ethnic groups in North America (Ja and Aoki, 1993; Morales, 1991; Wong, 1985). Their under-utilization may be due to the existence of institutional barriers; or there may exist a cultural preference for solving the problem within ethnic communities themselves. Hitherto, research on the topic of ethnicity and drug misuse has only focused on the causes of drug misuse or the obstacles to seeking help. In order to obtain an insight into the experience of service users in drug treatment programs a qualitative study was carried out by the University of British Columbia, School of Social Work in Vancouver from February to April of 1998. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the experience of Chinese individuals with drug misuse problems in treatment programs in order to help the treatment programs become more responsive to their needs.