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Move to make addicts employable (BBC/Yahoo News)

Albion

Albion

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
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Lil article here I spied from the news feed around my inbox. Tis one of those good natured drugs articles, complete with tragic snapshot of a spotty stoner deep in the throws of a hellish marijuana addiction.

UK_News-VPR23052012032017_3-1.jpg

​
Drug addicts and alcoholics rendered unable to work by their condition will face active intervention in their lives to make them clean and employable, a Cabinet minister is to say.
Changes to the welfare system will be focus on getting those claiming benefits because of reliance on drink and drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine into rehabilitation and ultimately the world of work, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will say.

In a speech to an event hosted by Alcoholics Anonymous, he will say the Welfare State has failed the almost 360,000 addicts who rely on benefits for their income.

He will argue at the event at the Houses of Parliament in London that his new Universal Credit system will encourage them to seek help and become employable again.
"The outdated benefits system fails to get people off drugs and put their lives on track," he will say.

"We have started changing how addicts are supported, but we must go further to actively take on the devastation that drugs and alcohol can cause. Under Universal Credit we want to do more to encourage and support claimants into rehabilitation for addiction and starting them on the road to recovery and eventually work.

"Getting people into work and encouraging independence is our ultimate goal. Universal Credit will put people on a journey towards a sustainable recovery so they are better placed to look for work in future and we will be outlining our plans shortly."

Statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) show that almost 40,000 people claim incapacity benefits with alcoholism as their primary diagnosis. The DWP says 13,300 of these people have been claiming for at least 10 years. It also says that around 80% of Britain's estimated 400,000 "problem drug users", some 320,000 people are claiming out-of-work benefits.

Combating the effect of drink and drug addictions are the latest step in Mr Duncan Smith's controversial reform of the benefit system.

The Welfare Reform Act, which received royal assent in March, brought in the universal credit system and a £26,000-a-year household benefits.
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Link - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/move-addicts-employable-021920112.html


I think I like Iain Duncan Smith, even if he is a monotonous boring old Conservative.


(Here's another article on the issue from the BBC)
 
That's what I first thought as well. Even I can roll better spliffs than that.
 
"It also says that around 80% of Britain's estimated 400,000 "problem drug users", some 320,000 people are claiming out-of-work benefits."

I wonder what their definition of 'problem drug users' is. It seems to me from reading posts on bluelight etc that a hell of a lot of people with drugs problems hold down jobs. There's probably a huge amount of people who have drugs problems but who also work that they just dont know about.
 
It's a very good step IMO, even though it does ignore the blatant fact that not all users/addicts are unemployable and hopelessly addicted - a much higher proportion hold down decent jobs.
 
They really don't understand that crack cocaine addicts just aint gonna get long term fullfillment from a job at asda or cleaning, especially if they have to give up their habit. Thats the biggest flaw with the "get eeryone wokring" shit. Many weed smokers won't put up with a job at adsa if they have to give up their habit.
 
Many weed smokers won't put up with anything other than a stroll to the dole office and buying munchies before dissolving into the fabric of their sofas.
 
Albion said:
think I like Iain Duncan Smith, even if he is a monotonous boring old Conservative.
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I do hope you're taking the piss, Alby... Forced to attend AA/NA if suspected - suspected, not confirmed - to have drug/alcohol issues or have your benefits cut? Words fail me :|

Was actually talking about this with both of me substance misuse workers this week and both agree that it's a terrible move. Worse than doing nothing. About 95% worse to be precise.

Why? Cos abstainance-only treatment not only doesn't work for the vast majority of users but actively makes their problems worse is why. AA/NA has a success rate (from their own figures) of 2.5-5%. Cold turkey with no support whatsoever has a 4-5% success rate. That means that - at its very best - AA/NA is as good as having no support and the rest of the time it makes the situation worse. And now it makes it worse still cos yer benefits are tied to it. Expect crime, homelessness and suicide rates to skyrocket ~5 years after this is brought in :|
 
Shambles said:
I do hope you're taking the piss, Alby... Forced to attend AA/NA if suspected - suspected, not confirmed - to have drug/alcohol issues or have your benefits cut? Words fail me :|
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The suspected thing really get me, too. Particularly because:

Ministers believe that one indicator Jobcentre Plus staff can use to see whether a claimant is an addict is the amount of times they apply for a crisis loan. "If you are applying for that up to 10 times a year then that is a sign of a chaotic life," one source said.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/22/jobseekers-alcohol-drug-addiction-benefits-cut

Great plan. Except that since April 2011:

Crisis Loan awards for living expenses, excluding benefit alignment payments, will normally be capped to three awards in a rolling twelve month period.
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http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/eia-crisis-loan-changes-april-2011.pdf

The prospect of anyone getting ten crisis loans is laughable. IDS lives in a fantasy world.
 
Yeah I really don't see how this helps.

Firstly, it's very avoidable in the long term. Those already in the system as addicts are probably fucked, but people will just stop admitting they have a drug problem and instead claim mental illness or similar.

Secondly, even if it does work, for every addict who decides 'oh well, time to go get a job then,' there'll be 10 who keep using drugs, but now they're just poorer, which means increased homelessness and increased crime to both support themselves & fund their habit. It's been proven that the punitive approach doesn't work with addiction, people won't quit if you try to take away their welfare, they'll just make up the difference elsewhere, and however much money is saved by depriving the addicts won't be nearly enough to compensate for the cost of the crime increase.

Thirdly, as Shambles pointed out, abstinence based treatment has a horrifically low success rate for most people.

Sounds like it's just an attempt to score political points by picking on addicts.
 
On the crisis loan thang, made me titter so it did. 10 a year or more makes you a suspected addict? Pffft. I got 10 a month sometimes :D

To be fair, one that stood out in memory was for 23p (intended to frame that one but ended up cashing it cos I needed Rizla) and many weren't all that much higher. One can but try... Not like I had better/more socially acceptable ways to try to put bags in me veins of a day generally :\
 
Funny how there are 310,000 heroin addicts when they're trying to show some success for their policies and 360,000 when they want a lot of scrounging scumbags.

Do you get incapacity simply because you're a drug addict or alcoholic? I don't think so. I sometimes wonder if these high Tories like IDS are actually aiming to incite the urban dispossessed to riot again this summer in the hope of introducing their draconian policies in the aftermath.
 
charlie clean said:
I sometimes wonder if these high Tories like IDS are actually aiming to incite the urban dispossessed to riot again this summer in the hope of introducing their draconian policies in the aftermath.
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And you say it in jest! Everything I've heard from this government recently looks like incitement to riot.
 
It is going to be very difficult to get addicts into work when there are a distinct lack of jobs available out there.
Would an employer choose an addict over a 'straight' person for any vacancies that they may have, I doubt it.
 
Yeah your right that you don't have to state if you are an addict or not.
I guess if an addict or alcoholic was determined to not stay in the job then they could easily perform badly at work so the employer won't want them anymore, and then the addict just ends up back where they started on the dole.
There's a distinct lack of jobs in certain areas as it is so I wonder what the governments plan will be in those areas?
 
What's so great about 'work' - by which they mean a 'job' for a 'company', not the dictionary definition - anyway? What they really want is for you to become a believer and a part of the 'system'. Buy a car to drive to serve the boss in the morning rush hour and back again in the evening one in exchange for a few hours mobility on crowded roads at weekends until you grow old. What need have you, really, of these 'things' money buys and for which you conspire in the rape of our earth? Wage slavery is a product of the past two centuries - there's nothing natural or praiseworthy at all about it. If I'd my time again, I'd live off my own vegetable patch and avoid all voters like the plague.
 
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