ianstone
08-20-2010, 02:07 PM
Drug addicts to have benefits cut unless they seek treatment
By Daily Mail Reporter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 11:28 AM on 20th August 2010
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Drug addicts who refuse treatment could have their welfare benefits withdrawn, it was revealed today.
The Home Office is considering some form of 'financial benefit sanction' for claimants who fail to address their drug or alcohol dependency.
It would mark the revival of a scheme planned by the previous Labour government aimed at helping get drug users back into work.
Social security advisers have warned such a move could drive addicts back into a life of crime.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-0-0ADB0F8A000005DC-41_468x286.jpg Life of crime: Critics say plans to cut welfare payments to defiant drug addicts may force them to turn to crime to fund their addiction
The idea is said to be in a consultation paper on the Government's drug strategy for England, Wales and Scotland. A spokesman for the Home Office was unable to comment on the proposal.
It comes amid government plans for wider shake-up of the welfare system to help save billions of pounds.
The Labour government planned a series of pilot schemes this year to help drug users kick their habits and return to work.
They included applying sanctions to addicts who failed to attend treatment awareness programmes, and increased powers for the criminal justice system to help identify problem drug users not in treatment.
But the Social Security Advisory Committee - a statutory body - warned the pilot could cause 'significant harm', including the 'disengagement of problem drug users from the welfare to work system with...negative economic and social impacts'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-0-0210A33E0000044D-416_233x423.jpg Call for decriminalisation: Professor Ian Gilmore says a ban on drugs has not reduced crime or improved health
This is the latest area of drug policy to come under the microscope this week.
A leading doctor said the Government should consider decriminalising drugs because the blanket ban has failed to cut crime or improve health.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians, said he agreed that drug laws should be 'reconsidered with a view to decriminalising illicit drugs use'.
He called for the UK to take a fresh look at its laws and added there was a strong case for putting a regulatory framework around illicit drugs, rather than the current blanket ban.
His comments come on the same day that crime prevention minister James Brokenshire has called for swifter action to tackle the problems posed by 'legal high' drugs.
He said new powers - for year-long bans that could be put in place quickly - would help take new substances off the market while a comprehensive review of their potential harm was carried out.
It comes after the legal high Ivory Wave was blamed for the death of chef Michael Bishton, 24, whose body was found in the sea in Whitecliff Bay, near Bembridge, Isle of Wight, on Saturday.
Ivory Wave is sold legally for about £15 a packet and is advertised as relaxing bath salts.
But the product has become popular as a legal alternative to illicit drugs.
Outlining plans to introduce the temporary bans by the end of next year, Mr Brokenshire said: 'The drugs market is changing and we need to adapt current laws to allow us to act more quickly.
'The temporary ban allows us to act straight away to stop new substances gaining a foothold in the market, and help us tackle unscrupulous drug dealers trying to get round the law by peddling dangerous chemicals to young people.'
But he added that anyone tempted to try a legal high 'must understand it is not safe or sensible to take a substance when you do not know what it is or what is in it - especially when some are claimed to be pond cleaner or bath salts'.
The ban will send a clear message to users that these substances carry a risk and will prevent new chemicals becoming widely available, the Home Office said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304650/Drug-addicts-benefits-cut-unless-seek-treatment.html#ixzz0xAe3gO19
By Daily Mail Reporter (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 11:28 AM on 20th August 2010
Comments (137) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304650/Drug-addicts-benefits-cut-unless-seek-treatment.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304650/Drug-addicts-benefits-cut-unless-seek-treatment.html)
Drug addicts who refuse treatment could have their welfare benefits withdrawn, it was revealed today.
The Home Office is considering some form of 'financial benefit sanction' for claimants who fail to address their drug or alcohol dependency.
It would mark the revival of a scheme planned by the previous Labour government aimed at helping get drug users back into work.
Social security advisers have warned such a move could drive addicts back into a life of crime.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-0-0ADB0F8A000005DC-41_468x286.jpg Life of crime: Critics say plans to cut welfare payments to defiant drug addicts may force them to turn to crime to fund their addiction
The idea is said to be in a consultation paper on the Government's drug strategy for England, Wales and Scotland. A spokesman for the Home Office was unable to comment on the proposal.
It comes amid government plans for wider shake-up of the welfare system to help save billions of pounds.
The Labour government planned a series of pilot schemes this year to help drug users kick their habits and return to work.
They included applying sanctions to addicts who failed to attend treatment awareness programmes, and increased powers for the criminal justice system to help identify problem drug users not in treatment.
But the Social Security Advisory Committee - a statutory body - warned the pilot could cause 'significant harm', including the 'disengagement of problem drug users from the welfare to work system with...negative economic and social impacts'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-0-0210A33E0000044D-416_233x423.jpg Call for decriminalisation: Professor Ian Gilmore says a ban on drugs has not reduced crime or improved health
This is the latest area of drug policy to come under the microscope this week.
A leading doctor said the Government should consider decriminalising drugs because the blanket ban has failed to cut crime or improve health.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians, said he agreed that drug laws should be 'reconsidered with a view to decriminalising illicit drugs use'.
He called for the UK to take a fresh look at its laws and added there was a strong case for putting a regulatory framework around illicit drugs, rather than the current blanket ban.
His comments come on the same day that crime prevention minister James Brokenshire has called for swifter action to tackle the problems posed by 'legal high' drugs.
He said new powers - for year-long bans that could be put in place quickly - would help take new substances off the market while a comprehensive review of their potential harm was carried out.
It comes after the legal high Ivory Wave was blamed for the death of chef Michael Bishton, 24, whose body was found in the sea in Whitecliff Bay, near Bembridge, Isle of Wight, on Saturday.
Ivory Wave is sold legally for about £15 a packet and is advertised as relaxing bath salts.
But the product has become popular as a legal alternative to illicit drugs.
Outlining plans to introduce the temporary bans by the end of next year, Mr Brokenshire said: 'The drugs market is changing and we need to adapt current laws to allow us to act more quickly.
'The temporary ban allows us to act straight away to stop new substances gaining a foothold in the market, and help us tackle unscrupulous drug dealers trying to get round the law by peddling dangerous chemicals to young people.'
But he added that anyone tempted to try a legal high 'must understand it is not safe or sensible to take a substance when you do not know what it is or what is in it - especially when some are claimed to be pond cleaner or bath salts'.
The ban will send a clear message to users that these substances carry a risk and will prevent new chemicals becoming widely available, the Home Office said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304650/Drug-addicts-benefits-cut-unless-seek-treatment.html#ixzz0xAe3gO19