UK Legal News | Prisons keeping inmates dependent on drugs, says new report

23:58 000 prisoners are being kept dependent on drugs by the prison service , 30 0 Comments

UK Legal News | Prisons keeping inmates dependent on drugs, says new report: "30,000 prisoners are being kept dependent on drugs by the prison service rather than being put through detox programmes, according to a new report.
Methadone, along with similar drugs, is being prescribed too easily thanks to risk-averse clinical guidelines and inexperienced prescribers, concludes the Policy Exchange report, to be released on Monday.
“Perversely, the massive increase in opiate substitute medication has created a new kind of trade for drugs in prisons, as methadone and buprenorphine are readily traded among inmates,” said Max Chambers, author of the report, Coming Clean, Combating Drug Misuse in Prisons.
The report criticises clinical guidelines for not taking into account the length of sentence a prisoner is serving when prescribing treatment for drug addiction.
“Maintenance treatment, which is when a stable dose is prescribed often continued indefinitely, should only be given to prisoners serving 13 weeks or less and who don’t have time to complete a detoxification programme,” said Chamber.
Under current practices, however, every prisoner who has been receiving methadone in the community will have their drug habit maintained in prison, regardless of the length of their sentence."