{"id":4497,"date":"2009-08-18T15:13:55","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T14:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=4497"},"modified":"2009-08-21T13:44:28","modified_gmt":"2009-08-21T12:44:28","slug":"poor-results-for-addicts-from-e140m-drugs-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2009\/08\/poor-results-for-addicts-from-e140m-drugs-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor results for addicts from \u20ac140m drugs scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

An examination into the \u20ac140 million spent by State agencies on drug treatment services has found a very small proportion of heroin-users on methadone maintenance ever get off the drug.
\nAbout 8,000 people in the greater Dublin area are on methadone maintenance, the main form of treatment for heroin addiction, according to a special report by the Comptroller Auditor General. However, it is estimated annually that about 1.25 per cent progress to detoxification treatment or follow-on rehabilitation.
\nThe report says there are no national targets for treatment progression and calls on health authorities to set objectives to help provide better planning. However, it acknowledges that long-term methadone treatment is likely to be the best outcome that can be achieved for a significant proportion of heroin users.
\nIt is one of a series of often critical findings in a report which raises questions about how effectively the Government\u2019s National Drugs Strategy is being implemented. Other key findings in the report are:
\n* About 460 people were waiting over a year for methadone treatment in April 2008. The official target is to provide treatment within a month of assessment.
\n* Cannabis and cocaine use is increasing, but there has not been a proportional increase in the number of cases treated for problem-use of these drugs.
\n* Non-opiate drug users in the capital are less likely to get treatment than elsewhere in the country, possibly due to the heavy focus on opiate drug treatment services in Dublin.
\n* Drug treatment courts \u2013 where drug use may be a contributory factor in offending \u2013 handled just 22 cases a year, rather than about the 100 originally envisaged. The completion rate of this programme is just 17 per cent.
\nResponding to the report yesterday, Fine Gael\u2019s community affairs spokesman Michael Ring TD described the drug problem as a \u201cnational crisis\u201d and said Government spending cutbacks on treatment services would create massive problems in the future.
\n\u201cWe have a drugs time bomb, just when the Government is cutting back on treatment services,\u201d he said. \u201cThe budgets for local drugs task forces have been slashed by 20 per cent, while funding for the Government\u2019s own drugs advisory board has been slashed by 23 per cent.\u201d
\nThe report itself raises questions about whether the aims of the National Drugs Strategy \u2013 which is aimed at improving and co-ordinating the delivery of treatment of preventative services \u2013 are being reached.
\nThe strategy, for example, envisaged that treatment would be based on a \u201ccontinuum of care\u201d model, which would co-ordinate services and provide for a better transition between different phases of care.
\nHowever, it says health authorities have still not put in place a national framework for care planning and management across the State. This would play a key role in providing wider social support \u2013 such as accommodation, education and training \u2013 to people with drug use problems.
\nThe report also says it is important for local drugs projects to be governed by service level agreements that specify the services to be provided and the standards to be met. In addition, it calls for greater transparency on the cost of treatment and rehabilitation services, and says responsible agencies must provide more information on the effects of their actions or services.
\nThe report says that more research is needed to continue evaluating the effectiveness of drug treatment services. While it says good and informative work has been done in the past, it is important to do follow-up studies to identify long-term outcomes for those in receipt of treatment.
\nSource:IrishTimes.com 6th June 2009<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An examination into the \u20ac140 million spent by State agencies on drug treatment services has found a very small proportion of heroin-users on methadone maintenance ever get off the drug. About 8,000 people in the greater Dublin area are on methadone maintenance, the main form of treatment for heroin addiction, according to a special report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}