From 1993 to 2000, heroin and morphine deaths in England and Wales rose dramatically. Then they slowly declined.
But in 2010 death rates started to rise sharply again.
There has been a fundamental change in how drug treatment services are organised. Before 2012 they were jointly commissioned by the NHS and local authorities, but the Health and Social Care Act changed this.
The new law made local authorities solely responsible for commissioning drug treatment and their spending was no longer ring-fenced.
With reduced central government funding, councils were having to make savings across the board. That meant cuts.
The government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) warned this year about funding of drug treatment falling.
The ACMD said if resources were spread too thinly, there could be increased levels of blood-borne viruses, drug-related deaths and drug-driven crime.
“A lack of spending on drug treatment is short-sighted and a catalyst for disaster,” said Annette Dale-Perera, who chairs the ACMD’s Recovery Committee. “England had built a world class drug treatment system, with fast access to free, good quality drug treatment.”
