Compulsory drug addiction treatment 'unworkable'

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by Change | 24 Jun 2009

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Government plans to force drug addicts on benefits to receive addiction treatment to help tackle their problems and get their lives back on track are impossible to deliver in practice, it has been claimed.

Efforts to tackle drug addiction problems by forcing all addicts on government benefits to receive treatment for their problems will not be enforceable, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.

The government recently announced proposals to force all drug addicts on benefits to enter into rehab clinics and other facilities to receive the addiction treatment they need to beat their problems and return to work.

However, the Liberal Democrats have warned that such measures are currently unworkable because there are insufficient rehab centres and facilities available to deal with the vast number of addicts receiving state aid.

According to the party, there are 350,000 heroin and crack cocaine users of working age currently receiving state benefits, the Guardian reports.

However, Liberal Democrat shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, Jenny Willott, claimed there are already nearly 8,000 people waiting more than three weeks to begin addiction treatment courses, suggesting the current system is close to capacity.

Ministers are keen to get more people onto courses to tackle their drug problems, in the belief that doing so will help cut the number of people on long-term benefit by helping more people to beat their problems and get back into employment.

Earlier this year, Audit Scotland found that drug and alcohol abuse is costing the Scottish economy alone £5 billion a year.

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