Pubdate: Sat, 25 May 2002
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Ian Burrell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG-TESTING SCHEME TO CUT CRIME IS LABELLED A FAILURE

A Government scheme to tackle property crime by forcing arrested heroin and 
cocaine addicts to submit to regular drug tests has been denounced as a 
failure.

Independent analysis of the scheme, commissioned by the Home Office, found 
that more than half the addicts breached their court orders and continued 
using the drugs.

Narcotics experts said yesterday that the findings showed the Drug 
Abstinence Orders programme was not working and questioned the wisdom of 
ministers in extending the scheme across the country earlier this month.

Roger Howard, the chief executive of DrugScope, said the programme was 
doomed to failure because it offered hardened drug users no treatment for 
their habits. "With almost three in five offenders breaching probation 
abstinence orders, the Government must rethink how these orders are rolled 
out," he said.

Under the scheme, which began last year, people arrested for robbery or 
theft or class A drug offences can be tested for drugs at police stations.

The evaluation report, by an independent research consultancy, said that by 
the end of February 1,835 arrested people had been tested in three pilot 
areas. In Hackney, 63 per cent of those tested showed positive for heroin 
and cocaine, with 58 per cent testing positive in Nottingham and 47 per 
cent in Stafford and Cannock.

Only 106 of these had since moved on to probation-run abstinence schemes, 
which require them to stop taking drugs or face being sent back to court.

The evaluation study found that 61 of the 106 people placed on Drug 
Abstinence Orders or Drug Abstinence Requirements had shown positive for 
drugs on three consecutive or two non-consecutive tests over a six-week 
period. "Breach rates were very high at Nottingham, which is the site where 
the new orders have been implemented most extensively," the report said.

The authors said criminal justice professionals were concerned that drug 
users were not being given enough help to kick their addictions. "Probation 
and magistrates perceive that current breach provisions are potentially 
demotivating and an ineffective and inappropriate use of resources."

The findings follow a report earlier this week by the House of Commons' 
Home Affairs Select Committee that called for Drug Abstinence Orders to be 
amended so that they required access to treatment.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager