DIP milestone reached: 1000 offenders (per week) enter drug treatment

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) has achieved a milestone of getting 1000 people (across England & Wales) a week into treatment via the Criminal Justice System (SR2004 PSA 4 target).
• The Home Office has had a long-standing target to increase the number of drug-misusing offenders entering treatment through the criminal justice system to 1,000 a week by the end of March 2008.

• This target was achieved two months early, in January 2008, a massive achievement from a baseline of just 438 people going into treatment in the month of March 2004. Figures show there are now, consistently, more than 4000 people a month entering treatment – a ten-fold increase over the baseline figure.

• This achievement is the result of new ways of working and key legislative changes, introduced through the Drug Interventions Programme.

• DIP aims to get drug-misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment and other support, and helps break the destructive cycle of drugs-offending-prison across England and Wales.

• We know that this is more cost effective than putting offenders through the criminal justice system repeatedly without support to help them address their drug problem. For every £1 spent on drug treatment, at least £9.50 is saved in health and crime costs.

• But this is not a soft option. The programme puts tough choices before drug misusing offenders. Through DIP we have introduced compulsory drug testing on arrest or charge and compulsory assessment and follow up assessment by a drugs worker. And there are sanctions – including a possible prison sentence – for those who do not comply.

• Reaching this key target is a huge achievement. But it is not just about numbers. Many DIP clients are among the most problematic drug misusers with the most chaotic lifestyles. Their offending has a major impact on our communities, so every person who has been lifted out of the downward spiral of crime and drugs is a real success story.

• DIP has been hugely successful in helping to reduce drug-related crime and offending in England and Wales:

- Since the programme began, recorded acquisitive crime – to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution – has fallen by a fifth.
- Home Office research (on a cohort of 7,727 individuals) found that the overall volume of offending was 26% lower following contact with DIP, with reductions of around 79% for almost half of the offenders.
- Local evaluations echo these findings and highlight a range of other areas where the Programme is having a positive impact.

• DIP offers a win-win solution: drug-misusing offenders get help through treatment and support; communities suffer less crime and criminal justice costs are reduced.

• That is why DIP continues to sit at the heart of the new national Drug Strategy. It remains a key component for delivering against a range of cross-Government targets and indicators concerned with reducing offending and drug misuse, improving health and fighting social exclusion.