Attraction versus coercion: The Alliance and Tier 4 treatment
By Peter McDermott, Press and Policy Lead for The Alliance and Non-Executive Board member at the NTA
A recent article by Elizabeth Day in The Observer is causing a little discussion on the internet at the moment. Ms. Day wanted to do a story on the ‘debate’ between methadone and rehab, and although I did try and explain that, as far as I was concerned, there was no such debate – both treatments have been validated by NICE and as such, should be available on the NHS in all areas of the UK – I agreed to help.
Our email exchange presented a more nuanced view of the role of abstinence-based treatment, than the one that appears in the final piece, but I don’t have a problem with that. Simplifying complex position is what newspapers do. If you want all the caveats and qualifiers read a scholarly journal, not a newspaper. On balance, I think she did a good job with the story.
Today though, I know how Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand must have felt. I believe that there are no significant differences between my own personal views on this subject, the policies of The Alliance, those of the National Treatment Agency and the position as outlined in the current Drug Strategy.
The thing that really got people’s gander up was my remark to The Observer that residential rehabilitation ‘doesn’t actually work that well’
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Tier four capital funding announcement
Abstinence-based drug treatment will grow by more than 2,000 places a year following over £54 million of government capital funding
The places in 42 residential treatment and supported housing centres throughout England will work with addicts to help them to overcome their drug dependency and support them in leading drug-free lifestyles.
The Burton Addiction Centre in Newcastle-Under-Lyme is one of the first to complete their capital programme with funding of £1m. The new 21-bed residential rehabilitation unit will have the capacity to treat more than 50 people a year and was opened by Paul Hayes, chief executive of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA), on Wednesday 26 November.
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