Addiction
"Breakdown Britain: Addictions " | Published 14 December 2006
Click here for the "Breakthrough Britain: Addictions Report"
"Breakthrough Britain: Addictions " | Published 04 July 2007
During a decade of Labour drugs strategy, policy itself has become an intrinsic part of the problem. It has been a costly investment in failure. The combination of centralised targets and a ‘medical management’ approach to treatment has further entrenched addiction, adding to intergenerational cycles of substance dependency which are particularly damaging for children.
Click here for the Addictions Report
Click here to read the Executive Summary
Addiction
Methadone prescribing, which can help maintain drug addiction, has been promoted under current policy. Effective rehabilitation treatment and crucial family residential services, which have been proven to be most successful in getting people drug-free, have been marginalised.
Under the Labour Government, the voluntary sector has become part of the state machinery, thereby stifling innovation. Lack of prevention measures has resulted in adolescents being placed in adult services – meaning young people are being failed.
The gulf between need and treatment in the prison service, which houses the largest addict population in the country, remains unbridged. The Government’s commitment to controlling the supply of drugs and to police enforcement appears weak.
The harm reduction rather than prevention approach to drugs education in schools, promoted by the Government, could be doing as much harm as good. Together our reforms will result in a dramatic improvement in the quality of treatment and access to treatment for recovery. They will simplify budgets and ensure the availability of holistic, committed and integrated care. They will also lead to significant long-term savings to the Exchequer.
Furthermore by applying more stringent standards, these reforms will promote public health by reducing death and infection, and prevent drug use and criminal activity.
Action on Addiction, former CEO Clouds
Britain has one of the highest levels of drug addiction in Europe.
Drug and alcohol abuse costs society around £39 billion per year.
I was maintained on methadone for years and years, and not once did the doctor or a drugs worker say, "Well, look, have you ever thought about rehab?"
You're still in your home town, with the same people, with the same drugs, the same everything. And you're very blinkered. Common sense will tell you that you need to get out and break the circle… if you're still in there, on a methadone script, people still use, you've got no chance at all.
When I first came here I thought, "I need to get off drugs," and that was it. But then I learnt as I went on, that it was about learning life skills which I never learnt from being on heroin and methadone for 22 years.
Lee, Sheffield, a Graduate of Phoenix Futures Adult Residential Rehabilitation
1. An integrated addiction policy to replace the separate drugs and alcohol strategies.
Addiction policy should include both alcohol and drugs, as alcohol remains the largest addiction in the country.
2. Residential Rehabilitation Expansion
This provides detoxification in a safe environment which leads straight into a supportive rehabilitation programme.
3. The reclassification of Cannabis from Class C to B
Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug and should not be in the category which gives the impression that we can be less concerned with it than other drugs.
4. A dedicated abstinence based treatment wing in every prison
An expansion of abstinence programmes in prison, which are highly cost effective and much cheaper than residential programmes in the community.
5. Controlling the supply and availability of drugs
Availability and affordability have driven alcohol supply and consumption in recent years, government must consider this in their drugs strategy
6. Expansion of third (voluntary) sector provision of abstinence-based treatment.
The voluntary sector provides an approach which ‘cares about the whole person’, unlike typical delivery in the public sector which often end up as dispensaries.
7. Abstinence based treatment vouchers
These will give addicts responsibility in their recovery. It will also ensure funding follows the addict, thereby increasing the likelihood of recovery.
8. A radical reassessment of adolescent substance misuse services.
For substance abuse problems and for associated mental health, family and social issues there needs to be a review of how to meet the currently unmet needs of young people.
9. The further development of dedicated drugs courts.
The existing pilot specialist drug courts, which have been shown to be effective, would be expanded.
10. Reducing alcohol-related harm.
Ensuring that a portion of the profit from alcohol sales is invested in the treatment of addicts.
"I tried everyone - Social Services, the Police and Health Professionals, as well as my family, nobody seemed to have any answers… January 2001, I received a telephone call, Luke was in Harrogate Hospital, he had overdosed on Heroin…One night he didn’t come home. The following day…a colleague came into my office…she did not have to say anything. I knew my son was dead."
Extracts from Luke’s Story by kind permission of his mother, Susan Garner
"The targets are about people into treatment. It doesn't tell you what treatment, whether that treatment is any good, all it is, is about numbers…[they] can say, oh, we've got 185,000 people in treatment. To me that's a meaningless statement, what I want to know is how many people have you managed to get drug-free or reduce their level of harmful use by significant levels.
That's the only thing that matters, and that hasn't happened…how many people since they started their work have become drug-free?"
Nick Barton, Joint CEO Action on Addiction, former CEO Clouds
