ABOLISH NTA TO CUT DRUG ADDICTION

"Methadone prescriptions for heroin addicts would be cut and the National Treatment Agency that runs the programme scrapped under plans from the Tories favourite think-tank," reports Rosemary Bennett, social affairs correspondent of The Times newspaper.

"The Centre for Social Justice, set up by Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said it was unacceptable that only 4% of addicts in treatment ever get “clean” and accused the agency of “pushing aside” proper rehabilitation. The Times has also learnt that the highly influential think-tank will use a report on Monday to throw its weight behind Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, who called for short prison sentences to be scrapped.The report will state that the CSJ agrees with him that short sentences of two months do nothing to help to rehabilitate offenders and should be replaced by community orders."

The CSJ's Green Paper on Criminal Justice and Addiction comes as the government considers major changes to drug policy and the future of the National Treatment Agency. Set up in 2001, the NTA oversees the controversial “harm reduction” strategy - most recent NTA treatment statistics show that of the 207,000 addicts a year who use 'treatment' services, only 8,980 completed their treatment drug free.4,600 addicts have access to residential rehabilitation.Numerous residential drug rehabilitation centres have closed because of lack of patients, despite no sharp fall in the number of addicts.

The CSJ said that the NTA, the running costs of which have spiralled to £18million a year, merely processes addicts with a “fatalistic” belief that they can never get clean. It wants it scrapped and replaced by an Addiction Recovery Board, chaired by a minister and charged with getting addicts off drugs altogether, using the best local private sector and charity programmes, or “recovery communities”.

The report says there is a role for methadone, but it should be used only as part of a wider treatment programme, with abstinence the goal.

"There is no strategy or incentive to reduce the numbers on maintenance treatment and move people into recovery," the CSJ said. The report is also highly critical of how drug use is tolerated in prison: 55% of prisoners received into custody each year are classified as problematic drug users. According to the Ministry of Justice, one in five men who reports using mainstream drugs first used them in prison.

Comments

[Ed]

I'm not against Methadone per se, but it really irks me that people trying to recover from addiction can be parked on it for years, with a certain tolerance for continued use of opiates - big overdose risk when mixed with Methadone - built into the system.

If a law were brought in to the effect that Methadone could only be used for detox in a residential rehabs, perhaps Big Pharma would sponsor them, or even lobby the government to reopen the ones closed by the previous regime?

[Angie Sparrowhawk]

I have worked in the Substance Misuse field as a professional social worker and counsellor for almost 30 years and feel that any government with a goal of total abstinence for substance users is totally unrealistic. Does this mean that there will be a time limit on treatment? If the user fails will this throw them back out onto the street to score adulterated substances and their families to suffer the consequences of their use. Harm reduction is a more realistic goal and more achievable. Methadone is not a realistic substitute to opiate use - clients often loathe it. Why not prescribe heroin?
Clients need a range of options and some will want and will become abstinent, others do not and will not. It takes time and support to deal with substance misuse problems - there is no quick fix [pardon the pun!]. In my role in a substance misuse team I was able to offer whatever the client needed - support, counselling, detox and rehab if required. I often had to fight for these options and often gave my clients a longer period of counselling if I felt they needed it. I was told that 3 months was the time limit but I disregarded this as I was thinking long term, not short term! Treatment is not cheap and each locality has differing needs and I can only hope that this is addressed appropriately and the people on the coal face are asked for their input.
I left my job in the local substance misuse field three years ago as the pressure became unbearable and the agency was taken over by a poor, but cheap, voluntary agency. I, now work as a trainer and have been a clinical supervisor in a substance misuse counselling service for 14 years. I hope this government makes the necessary changes in this field and clients have the opportunity to make appropriate decisions about their treatment and are enabled to make positive sustainable changes in their lives.