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The '''Drug Interventions Programme''' is a key part of the United Kingdom's strategy for tackling [[drug abuse]].<ref>{{cite web
| title = Drug Interentions Programme Strategy
| publisher = Home Office
| url =http://www.drugs.gov.uk/drug-interventions-programme/strategy/?view=Standard
▲ | accessdate = }}</ref> It aims to engage drug-misusing offenders involved in the [[Criminal Justice]] system in formal addiction treatment and other support, thereby reducing drug-related harm and reducing offending behaviour.<ref>{{cite web
| title = NTA Models of Care 2006
| publisher = NTA
| url = http://www.nta.nhs.uk/publications/documents/nta_modelsofcare_update_2006_moc3.pdf▼
▲ | url =http://www.nta.nhs.uk/publications/documents/nta_modelsofcare_update_2006_moc3.pdf
| format = pdf Page 8, section 2.5.1
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930083332/http://www.nta.nhs.uk/publications/documents/nta_modelsofcare_update_2006_moc3.pdf
| archive-date = 2007-09-30
| accessdate = }}</ref> Introduced in 2003, it formed a part of both of New Labour's '10 year' drug strategies.<ref>{{cite web▼
|
▲
| title = Westminster Council DAAT
| publisher = Westminster Council
| url = http://www.westminster.gov.uk/healthandsocialcare/adultservices/drugsandalcohol/
| archive-url =
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==Overview==
The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is the UK's main Criminal Justice initiative aimed at engaging substance misusing offenders in drug treatment. It does this through a variety of methods, some [[coercive]], such as the Tough Choices
DIP's key partners include [[police]], the probation service, prisons, courts and other criminal justice agencies, as well as the [[National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse|National Treatment Agency]] and the [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Department of Health]].<ref>{{cite web
| title = Drug Interventions Program "Roles of Partners"
| publisher = Home Office
▲ | url =http://www.drugs.gov.uk/drug-interventions-programme/strategy/partner-roles/ | format =
▲ | accessdate = }}</ref> It is hard to discern the precise cost of DIP. Whilst DIP Key Messages (of February 2009) identified that 'over £600 million has been invested in DIP,',<ref>{{cite web
| title = Drug Interentions Program Strategy
| publisher = Home Office
| url =http://www.drugs.gov.uk/drug-interventions-programme/strategy/?view=Standard
▲ | accessdate = }}</ref> DIP's Operational Handbook (also 2009) put the figure at 'over £900m'.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Home Office
| title = Drug Interventions Programme Operational Handbook
| publisher = Home Office
| year = 2009
| url =http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/reducing-reoffending/DIP-Operational-Handbook?view=Binary
| format = pdf
▲ | accessdate = 30 July 2011 }}</ref>
Some evidence has been taken to suggest that DIP has been effective in achieving its aims, though a serious shortfall in methodologically rigorous evaluations makes such claims problematic. Nonetheless, in his foreword to the 2008 Drug Strategy the Home Secretary claimed that DIP coercion and case management have 'contributed to a fall in recorded acquisitive crime of around 20 per cent'.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Home Office
| title = Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities. The 2008 Drug Strategy. First Edition.
| publisher = Home Office
| year = 2008
| url = http://www.erpho.org.uk/Download/Public/8340/1/national-drug-strategy-2008.pdf
|
}}{{Dead link|date=December
▲ | accessdate = 30 July 2011 }}</ref> A short while later, DIP Key Messages made rather grander claims: 'since 2003, acquisitive crime (which is strongly associated with class A substance misuse) has fallen by 32 per cent in England and Wales.{{Citation needed|reason=Reference needed, and measure - convictions? British Crime Survey?|date=September 2011}}
==Tough Choices==
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===Test on Arrest===
Under the [[Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984]](PACE), it had been possible for police to drug test Detained Prisoners since 1984. The Drugs Act 2005 introduced, at selected "intensive DIP area" police stations, a mandatory drug test for every individual who had been arrested for a specified list of "trigger offences." Trigger offences were first set out in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, and constitute a list of offences known have a clear link to substance misuse (such as [[Theft]]). Arrestees may also be tested for 'non-trigger' offences (including, for example, those related to prostitution) with the authority of a police inspector. Individuals who refused to take this test, a "non-intimate saliva sample", could face up to three months in [[
===Required Assessment===
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===Restrictions on Bail===
Restrictions on Bail had been introduced under the [[Criminal Justice Act 2003]]. This piece of [[legislation]] amended the [[Bail Act 1976]] by reversing the presumption of [[bail]] to anyone who had tested positive
===Non-Intensive DIPs===
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==Prolific and Other Priority Offenders Scheme and DIP==
In 2004, the Prolific and Other Priority Offenders (PPO) Scheme was set up. A crime reduction initiative, it aims to identify a hard-core of individuals considered responsible for large amounts of crime, and manage them through either rehabilitation or conviction. There are currently 10,000 offenders in the UK who are involved in the PPO scheme, a significant proportion of whom have drug dependency issues. The [[Home Office]] encourages DIPs and PPO schemes to work closely together in such cases to ensure effective case management of offenders.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Key Messages for the Prolific & other Priority Offender Programme – May 2007
| publisher = Home Office
| url = http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/ppo/Key_Messages_PPO_MAY_07.doc
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070610173803/http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk//ppo/Key_Messages_PPO_MAY_07.doc
|
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>
==Controversy==
[[Release (agency)|Release]], a UK charity which advises professionals and the public on criminal justice and drugs matters, strongly opposed the Test-on-Arrest and Required Assessment measures brought in by the Drugs Act 2005. They stated that mandatory drug testing was possibly in contravention with Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, and that the possibility of false positives could lead to mandatory assessments for non-drug using Detained Prisoners. They also queried the Required Assessment process, calling into question the ethics and efficacy of coerced addiction treatment, and highlighting the possible re-direction of resources away from the voluntary treatment sector.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Response to Drugs Bill 2005
| publisher = Release
| url = http://www.release.org.uk/news/drugs_bill%20final.pdf
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080828210437/http://www.release.org.uk/news/drugs_bill%20final.pdf
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==See also==
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[[Category:Drug rehabilitation]]
[[Category:Department of Health
[[Category:Home Office (United Kingdom)]]
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