Treating Drug Addicts 'Costs £3.6bn A Year'

It costs £3.6bn a year to treat problem drug users and keep them on benefits, a report has revealed.

The study by think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has criticised government plans to change the way authorities tackle drug addiction.

It claims the plans for payment-by-results schemes are "doomed to failure".

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke wants to divert people with drug problems away from prison and into treatment as part of a "rehabilitation revolution".

But the CPS argues plans to reward addicts who have improved their employment prospects but who are not being treated for drug addiction are "seriously misguided".

Its report says measures like prescribing methadone to drug addicts delays their recovery.

"Solving the drug problem means recognising the problem for what it is: one of addiction," it says.

It adds": "There is one simple measure of success: that of six months' abstinence from drugs."

The report calls for a "transfer of power" to smaller rehabilitation units to help addicts change their behaviour.

The CPS estimates the annual cost of maintaining treatment and paying benefits to the 320,000 problem drug users was £3.6bn.

This breaks down as £1.7bn in benefits, £1.2bn looking after the children of drug addicts and £730m in methadone prescriptions.

The CPS says there are as many addicts now as in 2004/2005 and that fewer than 4% leave treatment free of dependency.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The 2010 Drug Strategy is fundamentally different from those that have gone before.

"Instead of focusing primarily on reducing the harms caused by drug misuse, our approach will be to go much further and offer every support for people to choose recovery as an achievable way out of dependence."