LEADING drugs counsellor has warned that cutbacks in Government funding for drug services will be self-defeating and end up costing the State more in the long term.

Shay Pegley, general manager of Dublin-based Addiction Training Institute (ATI) Training and Education, said many drug treatment services were being asked to trim 2 per cent from their budgets because of cutbacks.

He said that such cutbacks, while not affecting present services, compromise the ability of drug rehabilitation facilities to plan for the future. Mr Pegley said there should be at least a 5 per cent increase in funding for the National Drugs Strategy in the next budget. The budget for this year is =8064 million, an increase of =8012.5 million on 2007.

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