Addicts kick drugs 'at a cost of £1.85m each'

[Lunar Loops]

This from The Telegraph:

Addicts kick drugs 'at a cost of £1.85m each'

By John Steele

Last Updated: 2:06am GMT 31/10/2007

Spending of hundreds of millions of pounds on drugs treatment programmes has failed to improve the success rate of addicts coming off heroin and cocaine, according to a report.
The budget of the National Treatment Agency (NTA) has increased from £253 million in 2004-05 to £384 million last year, it said. But the number who emerge from programmes drug-free is still small.
Last year, 5,829 users were cured of their addiction, compared with 5,759 three years ago.

However, in that time, the success rate dropped from 3.5 per cent of those treated to fewer than three per cent.
The figures suggest that the £131 million of extra funding has resulted in 70 more being drug free this year compared with three years ago — equivalent to £1.85 million a person.
The Department of Health said: "In the last few years, there has been a massive expansion in the numbers entering drug treatment.
"It generally takes between five and seven years for an addict to successfully complete their treatment, and therefore it would be unrealistic to expect to see the results of this expansion in treatment immediately.
There are now over 195,000 people accessing drug treatment every year, 130 per cent more than in 1998."
The Tories said they had written to the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, Edward Leigh, asking for an inaquiry into the "massive failed expenditure".
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "This is an absolutely shocking revelation which speaks volumes about the Government's incompetence and distorted priorities."
Nick Barton, of Action on Addiction, said: "Treatment services need to continue to protect people from harm, reduce drug related problems in our society and provide opportunities for those seeking full recovery from addiction."
Earlier this month, it emerged that addicts were being given drugs as a reward for clean urine samples.
A survey of almost 200 clinics in England found some were offering extra methadone, a heroin substitute, or anti-depressants for good behaviour.
The NTA admitted the method was "unethical" and said that it wanted to see certain practices "squeezed out".