John Curran affirms government commitment to drug treatment

Not only does drug treatment help people to kick addiction, it also reduced the crime rate and helps people to re-enter the community in a healthy and meaningful way, new groundbreaking research shows.

Yesterday, the chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) Dr Des Corrigan said a study by researchers at NUI Maynooth demonstrates that the retention rate in drug treatment in Ireland is very high, which contributes to saving lives. The mortality rate in the study is low when compared with similar studies in Britain.

The NUI researchers recruited 404 opiate users when they started drug treatment and monitored their progress over a three-year period.

A high 70% were in some form of treatment at the three year mark and of these 86% were in methadone treatment and 29% were drug free after three years.

Heroin use reduced from 81% at intake to 47% the first year with improvement maintained among 47% of users three years into the programme.

Reductions in cannabis use and cocaine use were achieved at year one and sustained at year three.

The Research Outcome Study in Ireland Evaluating Drug Treatment Effectiveness (ROSIE) data published yesterday was a clear indication that drug treatment works and Government investment is paying dividends, said John Curran, Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy.

“The largest reductions in drug use and involvement in crime are achieved in year one and these reductions are sustained at the three-year follow up. Similarly, in terms of personal development, a significant improvement is made from one-year, 22%; to three-years when 33% of the study participants are in employment and/or training.

“It is the intention of Government to build on these positive outcomes. Whilst there are still areas for further study, it is clear that continued investment in drug treatment and implementation of the rehabilitation strategy will provide further positive outcomes in the years to come,” said Mr Curran.

Dr Corrigan said while methadone treatment emerged as a very effective treatment, “harm reduction services also demonstrated effect most notably in the low rates of borrowing or lending of injecting equipment in the study”.

Source: Dan Collins, Irish Examiner, 10/10/2008