CEPTA SAYS UKDPC DEFINITION "NOT THE SOLUTION"

After a Gatwick meeting on 7 July 2008 of the Council for the Effective Prevention and Treatment of Addiction, Council secretary Rob Thorburn reported that his members had thoroughly evaluated the redefintion of "recovery" proposed by the UK Drug Policy Commisison charity - and found that it did not allow for any hope or action in attaining freedom from usage of all drugs, including prescription drugs, which "is the stated goal of 70+% of users who have been addicted for three or more years".

"Like other observers, members therefore found the UKDPC definition divisive, splitting the drug-treatment community into separate camps at a time when the devastation caused by every form of drug use demands the determined cooperation of all parties at all levels of endeavour," the Council concluded.

Thorburn said that Cepta members thought that neither camp needs to compromise on requirements if there is a "definition and goal for recovery" which includes "all forms of problematic substance use, plus the main processes and results recognised as desirable by the majority of users and the community at large".

Cepta has issued a more widely practical definition, which it considers will achieve broader acceptance and thus serve to unite the sector more.

RECOVERY: CEPTA DEFINITION

Cepta sees the following definition as excluding neither habit management (eg maintenance) nor abstinence, and as providing easily identifiable and attainable goals.

"Recovery from addiction to any type of drug is: the process and result of procuring restoration,plus continuing relaxed retention, of the natural abstinence into which an individual was born, and processes attempting this are valid to the extent that they succeed (1) with a high degree of certainty, (2) within an economically reasonable period, (3) at moderate cost and (4) in a majority of cases".

Cepta is a not-for-profit community help organisation based in West Sussex.