Britain’s drug treatment policy criticised in new report

A new report has criticised the UK government's policy on treatment for drug addicts, claiming it is "doomed to failure".

The study, compiled by the Centre for Policy Studies, highlighted the 3.6 billion pounds currently spent on drug substitutes – such as methadone – and paying benefits to out-of-work drug users.

However, the group suggested that rehabilitation would be a more effective use of the funds and would yield more positive long-term results.

In the report, the think tank called for "a real transfer of power from large distant organisations to small innovative providers for rehabilitation".

But plans from the coalition government to reward providers that can prove their treatment schemes have improved the health and employment prospects of addicts are "open to manipulation" and could struggle to produce real development.

It added that in terms of judging effectiveness of treatment "there is one simple measure of success: that of six months abstinence from drugs".