MILLIONS OF POUNDS 'WASTED' ON DRUG TREATMENT, TORIES CLAIM

Millions of pounds have been wasted on Government-funded drugs
programmes to get hardened addicts off drugs, the Tories claimed.

New figures show that a record 202,000 people went through drug
treatment programmes in England last year.

But just 7,324 - four per cent - were released free of drugs.

This compares with 3,632 three years ago in 2004-05. Over the same
period, the Government's drug Treatment Budget rose by 57 per cent to
UKP 145million.

Shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said that "the Government's
entire approach of simply trying to manage addiction is wrong".

He said: "Drugs wreck lives and destroy communities but these figures
show that despite a significant increase in investment there has been
a paltry increase in the number of addicts going clean.

"This failing approach is compounded by Labour's mixed and confused
messages on the dangers posed by cannabis and ecstasy. The fact the
Government won't acknowledge this makes them part of the problem not
the solution."

Paul Hayes, chief executive of the National Treatment Agency for
Substance Misuse, said his agency could do better.

He said: "The treatment sector as a whole, and the NTA as an
organisation, must again raise our game, ensuring our staff are
skilled enough, our resources are allocated appropriately, and that
we better communicate what we are doing to the public."

Other statistics from the NTA also showed that more than 64,000
people remained in treatment for 12 weeks.

Mr Hayes added: "Most users do not want to be in treatment for the
rest of their lives. They see treatment as a means to help them
overcome addiction and gain control of their lives.

"The NTA's role is to help services to enable that process, and
support users to leave treatment safely, free of dependency."