§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the relative effectiveness of(a) community specialist services and (b) residential rehabilitation for drug addicts. [87840]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 17 December 2002]: I have been asked to reply.
The diagnostic criteria for entry into different types of drug treatment are not directly comparable. The needs of individuals and the background to their substance misuse will have an effect on the type of treatment most appropriate for them. Comparisons between the relative effectiveness of the two types of treatment are therefore complex and potentially misleading. The National Treatment Outcome Research Study, funded by the Department, reported that around half, or 47 per cent., of drug users who have gone through residential programmes and more than a third, or 35 per cent., of those from methadone programmes are still abstinent from opiates at four to five years.