DIP with drug users leads to dip in crime

A PILOT drug intervention scheme is helping former substance misusers to stay away from crime, statistics have shown.

A recent report from Sheffield Hallam University has evaluated the results of intervention programmes from around South Yorkshire, and the conclusion suggests that they are working well.

People who have been arrested and tested positive for drugs are referred to the programme, where they are immediately assessed for their misuse and provided not only with substitute prescription such as methadone and subutex, but with counselling and social engagement activities as well as advice on housing and benefits. This continues throughout the whole intervention process – a three phase course which lasts on average around eight to 12 weeks.

This approach in Barnsley has seen an 80 percent reduction in crime from people that have been through the course, with significant reductions also occurring via similar programmes in Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Steph Widdowson, Drugs Intervention Programme co-ordinator for South Yorkshire Police, said: “As the majority of the people who go through the programme no longer need money to feed their habit, they no longer need to resort to crimes such as theft and burglary, which in turn dramatically lowers the amount of money crimes perpetrated by these people would have cost. Using Home Office figures for costs of crime, we calculated that the total savings from theft and burglary reduction by the cohort involved in the university’s research to be just under £400,000.”

One of the people who has been turned from a life of crime is Steve. He started taking drugs when he was 15, socially smoking cannabis along with a number of his friends near his home. At 17, he started doing heroin and crack. Six months later, he realises in hindsight, that he was addicted.

“We used to come in from a Friday night out and look for ‘uppers’ to keep us going,” said Steve. “One day someone brought some heroin and about ten of us tried it. We started doing it every weekend, but it didn’t take long before having it at the weekend wasn’t enough. You didn’t know why you needed it, but you did. That’s what it does to you. Soon, I was needing it every day, and it didn’t matter how I got it.”

Needing heroin meant needing money to fund his habit. While admitting to not being an angel and doing ‘typical kid stuff’, Steve had never been in trouble with the law. All that would soon change. Stealing money from his family – including emptying the bank account of his grandmother – wasn’t enough, and it wasn’t long before he was turning to crime to fund his addiction.

“I’ve done all sorts. I’ve been arrested for burglary and shoplifting, and been in and out of prison more times than I can remember. Sometimes I’d grass myself up to get arrested so that I could spend time in jail. I saw it as a chance to get away and have a rest from my life.”

Now 28, and now a year on from his latest stint in prison, Steve is getting his life back on track. He is also in no doubt as to how he has managed to turn his life around.  “I’d wanted to quit drugs for a while, and I’d been on drug rehabilitation orders and all that kind of stuff, but they don’t work. You’re made to wait ages for your medication, so you’re still looking for money and drugs while you wait, and when you do get them they think that’s the end of it. The Drug Intervention Programme is different. As soon as you’re referred they get you your medication straight away, and they don’t just leave it at that.

“My mentor, Andy, used to ring me out of the blue and was always checking up on me, making sure I was okay and trying to get me involved in social activities. I hadn’t seen anything like this anywhere else until I went on the DIP. They actually care. You’re not just someone they forget as soon as you walk out of their door.”

Steve is still on subutex, but now collects his medication once a month rather than every day. He is confident that he would now be fine without them, but is continuing under doctor’s orders for now. Now involved with a new girlfriend, he has made up with his family, and also has a daughter from a previous relationship living with him. He also has a full-time job on a building site and is pleased with the money he is earning – none of which is being spent on drugs.

“I’m done with them mate,” he said. “I’ve seen what they can do. It’s not a fashionable thing, and there are a lot of people dying from it. It’s taken years of my life where I’ve done a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of people. My biggest regret is what I did to my family. They all tried to help me but I kept doing the same things again. The DIP spoke to my sister and grandma and helped me get another chance. I won’t waste this one.”

ENDS

Issued by press office, 01226 773443, email: pressoffice@barnsley.gov.uk