Are there plans to add alcohol abuse to the drug workers’ remit?
And if not, why not? JG: There are no plans to add alcohol abuse to our remit that I am aware of as yet. There has been a great deal of money spent (well into the millions) on designing and setting up the Drug Intervention Programme(DIP), which is basically treatment options specifically for drug users caught up in the criminal justice system and until that DIP has been monitored to see if it is value for money and working nationally according to government targets it would seem unlikely that the government will give more money with a view to addressing alcohol issues within the Criminal Justice (CJ) system. Statistics have shown that there is a strong correlation between criminal behaviour and drug use and I am not sure that such a strong a link joins alcohol use to people in the CJ system. Partly because alcohol is legal and a person wouldn’t be breaking the law merely by possessing it and also because the crimes that people commit under the influence of drink tend to be in the nuisa
