Clause 16 - Drug users: restrictions on bail
Criminal Justice Bill
9:30 am
Mr John Mann (Bassetlaw, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 146, in
clause 16, page 11, line 30, leave out 'assistance or'.
This small amendment has behind it a major question on drugs treatment. At our last sitting, I raised the over-dominance of the probation service on matters relating to drugs treatment. The phrase ''assistance or treatment'' is not accidental, but it is wrong. The notion that a drug addict or person with a propensity to misuse specified class A drugs can be ''assisted'' without being treated is a misnomer.
One of the recommendations that I have made, both locally and to the Government, is that there be an expansion of supported tenancies. That is the sort of assistance that should be given. The idea that someone with a health problem can be given a supported tenancy without the health problem being treated is a highly dangerous notion. Over recent years, it has led to the cycle of offenders not being treated—and, crucially, their being given alternatives to treatment that do not work. It provides a suitable excuse for the drugs treatment services not treating people's health problems. It is one of the major problems in drugs treatment, and it is a cop-out.
If I have a health problem, I would expect it to be treated as such. A series of additional factors may be involved—for example, I may be or may have been homeless, or I might have been abused at home, either as a child or an adult. It is right that a multi-agency approach should be taken.