UK Government drug rehab figures 'inflated'

A former consultant at the UK Department of Health has accused health officials of "inflating" figures for treatment of
drug addicts.


The expert reportedly resigned from the drug treatment monitoring system after he was told it was "politically unacceptable"
for the Government to miss its target for the expansion of drug treatment places.


The un-named consultant alleges that political pressure led health officials to mislead ministers regarding the number of
problem drug users, including heroin and cocaine addicts, in treatment programmes, according to The Guardian.


In an article published in Druglink, the magazine of drug information charity Drugscope, the consultant claims he resigned
because, "I felt I was being pressured to give misleading information to MPs and morally I cannot accept that".


Six weeks ago, health officials published figures showing 154,000 problem drug users undergoing treatment in 2003-04. The
figures showed that the Government had hit its target to expand treatment places by 55 per cent in five years.



However, the National Treatment Agency (NTA) suggests that a more accurate figure for 2003-04 may be 125,900 "in contact with
treatment".


Paul Hayes, the NTA's chief executive, said: "Everyone knew that data collection methods in the treatment sector needed to be
improved. We stand by our figures and believe they continue to provide the most accurate reflection yet of the state of drug
treatment."


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