The purpose of this paper is to discuss the holistic systems treatment approach as a viable intervention for African-American substance abusers. For the purposes of the paper, substance abuse is defined as a maladaptive pattern of substance usage despite negative social, psychological, physical, and/or legal consequences (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994). The first section of the paper examines some of the basic characteristics of the population of African-American substance abusers while the second section explores studies of holistic treatment efficacy and discusses the applications of this research to African-American substance abusers.