Gov't services 'could be doing more harm than good'

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by Change | 29 Jan 2009

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Efforts by the government to tackle drug and alcohol abuse in young people through centre-based treatments are not as effective as street-based programmes, research shows.

Government services aiming to prevent drug and alcohol addiction could be doing more harm than good.

Research published in Public Policy Research finds Connexions could be failing to address problems due to its focus on the individual rather than their group of friends.

It claims street-based programmes engaging with young people and their social groups are more effective in helping at-risk people.

Adam Fletcher and Chris Bonell, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviours, claim centre-based programmes are only likely to have "limited success".

They state there are a advantages to working with teenagers in their existing friendship groups instead of engineering new ones, as the centre-based approach will often lead to.

"Detached youth workers can avoid the potentially harmful social network effects associated with centre-based youth work and avoid introducing young people to whole new networks of drug-using peers," they claim.

In other news, figures from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse shows a higher number of teenagers have received rehab support in 2008.

Most of these were helped through substance abuse counselling, with half receiving cannabis addiction treatment.

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