The NTA have responded to BBC claims this week that increased investment in drug treatment has not had a significant impact on the numbers of people leaving treatment drug-free.
A letter from Paul Hayes, chief executive of the NTA, to national newspapers has been published on the NTA website and is reproduced below. It sets out why figures used in the BBC story were factually inaccurate.
Dear Sir
Sadly, the BBC got its numbers wrong. More than 5,800 individuals completed treatment free of illicit drugs in 2006/7, 2,200 more than 2004/5, not the 70 claimed by the BBC. This misunderstanding arose because the BBC misinterpreted 2004/5 data on the NTA website and failed to check their figures prior to broadcast.
This error, and the undue emphasis on drug free completions as the only benefit that the community derives from its investment in drug treatment, misleads the public into believing that what is actually a successful system is failing.
Drug treatment in England offers a good return on investment and the evidence is substantial, from international sources to the reports of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and the Audit Commission.
All individuals who misuse drugs are different but it can take seven or eight years before they finally overcome their addiction. The good news is that most of them will do so eventually and until then, as long as they receive treatment, are much less likely to take illegal drugs.
The £400 million the government invested in drug treatment last year has to be judged against 180,000 individuals whose treatment has protected them from early death, reduced their criminality and provided the opportunity to rebuild their lives in the future.
To judge treatment solely on the small numbers that finally leave the treatment system in a given year as the BBC has done is misleading and dangerous to the drug users, their families and society.
Yours sincerely
Paul Hayes
NTA Chief Executive
For more information, and to see the corrected figures, please see the NTA website (link below).
For more information please contact Ruth Goldsmith in the DrugScope Press Office on 020 7940 7517 (07736 895563 out of hours) or at press@drugscope.org.uk
