CRIMINALS WITH DRUG HABIT TO BE TREATED

THE Government is to press ahead with mandatory treatment and testing
orders for drugaddicted criminals, despite a warning from probation
officers that they might not work, writes Paul Routledge.

Home Office Minister Joyce Quinn confirmed yesterday that addicts who
burgle and steal to feed their habit face compulsory treatment, which has a
success rate of up to 80 per cent in reducing dependence. Testing and
treatment orders are a key element in the Crime and Disorder Bill
introduced last month by Home Secretary Jack Straw.

But in a report published yesterday, Graham Smith, the Chief Inspector of
Probation, said that in some parts of the country supervision of addicts in
the community was often "unsatisfactory". In most areas, plans for
supervising offenders was "inadequate".

"Often the plans were too general and unspecific, lacking clear objectives
and identification of responsibility for action," the report said. Health
and voluntary agencies often did not like mandatory treatment, and could
refuse to cooperate. A "substantial number" of offenders did not accept
they had a drugs problem, and people who worked with them expressed concern
about people being "sentenced to treatment". On the plus side, the report
said the majority of offenders up to 80 per cent in some areas were
judged to be controlling or reducing their drug abuse.

Ms Quinn confirmed that the first Home Office pilot projects to make
offenders undergo testing and treatment would start in the New Year. "It is
essential that addicts are weaned off their habits if they are to
reintegrate in society," she said yesterday. "It is a vicious circle which
must be broken. This report shows that effective drug programmes work."

The Government's decision was welcomed by Paul Cavadino, principal officer
of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.
"The Government is right to press ahead with its plans for treatment and
testing orders for drugaddicted offenders."