PAY JUNKIES £100 A WEEK TO QUIT DRUGS

Government adviser’s call sparks controversy

TAXPAYERS should fund payouts of up to £100 a week to addicts who prove they are trying to kick their habit, a government adviser has said. Professor neil McKeganey’s plan would see addicts rewarded for their abstinence if they pass regular drug tests – with payments continuing if they remain drug-free.

He said this would be cheaper and potentially more effective than the present system of ploughing millions into failing treatment services for addicts – which rely on prescribing heroin substitute methadone.

His proposals come as the number of drugrelated fatalities soars to record levels, with Scotland’s drug-death rate now the highest in the European Union.

In response to the payouts plan, the Scottish Government agreed that ‘services need to adapt to meet the needs of those most at risk’ and said that it was revamping its approach to drug addiction. Professor

McKeganey’s proposals come amid a row over plans by council and health bosses in Glasgow for a ‘shooting gallery’, where addicts would get medical grade heroin from the NHS.

Commenting on paying addicts, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘Ideas like this have to be considered, for the sake of both the vulnerable people involved and the public purse.

‘The current strategy is not working and we need to start thinking out of the box – but we need to be wary not to get into the habit of financially rewarding people simply for not engaging in illegal behaviour.’

Professor McKeganey – who has acted as an adviser to both the UK and Scottish governments as well as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation – spoke out after official figures last week revealed a 23 per cent rise in drug-related deaths in the past year. Critics said the increase was an indictment of the SNP’s drugs strategy over the past decade.

Professor McKeganey said Scotland spends more than £100million every year tackling illegal drugs, with a ‘substantial proportion of that funding going to drug treatment services’.

There are about 35,000 addicts currently in contact with treatment services.

But Professor McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research in Glasgow, said the fact ‘Scotland has seen a persistent increase in drug deaths over the last ten years indicates that those services are failing both to identify those drug-users at greatest risk of dying, and to avert them from the riskiest form of drug use [injecting]’.

He said the money given to addiction treatment and support services should be diverted to incentivising addicts to give up their habit.

Cash saved would go towards other schemes helping addicts to stay drug-free and to find employment – helping them to stabilise their lives and reducing the risk of a relapse.

He will present his ideas at a conference on recovery from addiction in Vancouver, Canada, next month.

Outlining his plan, Professor McKeganey told the Mail: ‘Such an initiative would aim to recruit drug-users who are actively using illegal drugs in Scotland into a contract within which the individual would be financially rewarded for their continued abstinence and engagement with rehabilitation-focused services.

‘Individuals would need to be drugtested on a regular basis to ensure their continued abstinence was based on independent assessment.’

Though still formulating exact details, Professor McKeganey suggested addicts with families could get £ 00 a month under his plans, while those without children would receive £200 a month.

Dr Ian Oliver, a UN drugs consultant and former Grampian Police chief constable, said he feared addicts ‘would use the money to buy drugs and avoid the tests’.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The control of drugs is currently reserved to the UK Government. However we do have control over the prevention of problem drug use and we recognise that the nature of Scotland’s drug problem is changing and services need to adapt to meet the needs of those most at risk.

‘Last month we announced our plans to review our drug strategy, with renewed emphasis on harm reduction services.’

‘The current strategy is not working’