Welfare Reform Bill
11:54 am
Martin Barnes: If someone has been a long-term heroin user, the experience of our members suggests that getting that person, ultimately, drug-free can take several treatment interventions and could take six to seven years on average. There is no silver bullet for long-term, problematic drug users. It is the case that many problem drug users have other underlying problems, issues and needs, and they can be the most complex of the complex groups. I have mentioned mental health problems and poor physical health, and many of them will probably have had difficult experiences in the past, perhaps in childhood, which could have been significant contributing factors to their problem drug use.
Unemployment and poor housing are also important to consider. Homeless Link, for example, in its submission to the Green Paper, suggested that problem drug users are seven times more likely to be homeless, and low self-esteem and poor numeracy and literacy skills are also factors. In 2004 the National Audit Office published what was then really a watershed report, which stated that the role of drug treatment was not just to treat the substance, but also to deal with the wider needs of the person. That report was very much the catalyst for taking forward what is now more widely called the treatment effectiveness strategy. It is not only about addressing the misuse of the substance, but about looking at the wraparound aftercare support in order to achieve a successful outcome in drug treatment. If those underlying issues are not addressed, the chances are that you are keeping in place the factors that could lead someone to relapse later.