The new drugs interventions industry: What outcomes can drugs/criminal justice treatment programmes realistically deliver?

Abstract

The aspirational goal of significant crime reduction through delivering drugs treatment interventions at all points of the criminal justice system cannot be easily achieved. Mainstream drugs services do not yet have the capacity or competence to routinely deliver effective treatment outcomes. Moreover, local ad hoc inter-agency partnerships do not provide a robust delivery system for such an ambitious and complex national project. The government’s fast-track approach risks setting this developing industry up to under perform. A patient evidencebased approach is required, which recognizes that modernizing the whole drugs treatment sector will be more cost effective, in the long run, than over-reliance on ambitious criminal justice interventions.