---

Drug Strategy

Methadone has its place in the treatment regime, for example, when sex workers move from addiction and genuine desperation. My point is that people should not be kept on methadone, but moved from that through abstinence-based treatment, so that they beat their addiction. With the Government, if one does not measure something, it simply does not matter. The new document provides an Orwellian definition of ““effective treatment””, which is satisfied if someone is,"““discharged from the treatment system 12 weeks or more after triage; or that remain in treatment 12 weeks after triage; or that were discharged in less than 12 weeks in a care planned way””." As I said earlier, it is hardly surprising that recovery is the word that dare not speak its name. Instead, the Government are supposedly offering us more rights of asset recovery, with the Home Office news release breathlessly promising that,"““those who buy 'bling', plasma screens and other household goods, to avoid circulating cash, will have their assets seized before they have a good chance to disperse them””." No one has been able to explain what is wrong with the existing powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which include confiscation orders and restraint orders that can be sought from a judge before conviction. The policy does not bear examination. Even if there were a hypothetical need for more rights, the complete failure of the Assets Recovery Agency, necessitating its merger with Serious Organised Crime Agency, underlines where the real focus and attention should lie. As for the Government's apparent proposals to remove benefits from drug users dropping out of treatment, as one drugs charity kindly put it, the policy ““needs further explanation””. The Government are out of ideas, out of the real world and on the wrong path. The plan is an explicit admission of failure, which cannot be disguised by the hotch-potch of gimmicks cobbled together to masquerade as a strategy. We need a zero tolerance approach to drugs from our shores to our streets, with a proper border police force, the reclassification of cannabis, abstinence-based rehabilitation, and drug treatment in prison. Carl Gustav Jung said:"““Every form of addiction is a bad thing, irrespective of whether it is alcohol, morphine or idealism””." The Government's addiction is not idealism, but image: they measure inputs rather than achieve outcomes; they want to spin perception rather than change reality; and they commission reviews rather than take action. Their time has come for a long spell in rehab.