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Two few treatments centres says former government adviser

A former government adviser on drugs recently spoke out and said that he thinks there are too few residential treatment centres for young addicts in the UK. Mike Trace said that some young addicts could only be helped if they were able to be removed from their neighbourhoods. However, that is rarely possible as there are only 20 residential treatment places available for young addicts under 18 on the UK.

On the BBC News website, Mr Trace was reported as saying "In the early stages of treatment, nobody is absolutely convinced they want to change their lifestyles, so they're always subject to temptation.

"If you're living on a council estate in south London, where there's a dealer on every street corner, the chances of you continuing your treatment, complying with it, and keeping your will-power are fairly slim.

"That's why residential projects are set up as they are. They tend to be well away from drug-dealing areas and keep people in the early stages of treatment quite isolated from temptation."

"The fact that we just have no services and no options in the UK is quite damning."
In comparison to the 20 full-time residential places in England for under-18s, there are 3,000 places for adults."

Published by Addiction Advisor on 02/09/2008.

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