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Workers in alcohol misuse services were told last week that they have 18 months to make the case for winning funding equivalent to that allocated to drug services.

Delegates at a conference on tackling alcohol-related crime expressed frustration at the government's failure to pledge funding for the treatment of alcohol misuse or to set targets in its alcohol strategy, published in March.

Annette Dale Perera, director of quality at the National Treatment Agency, said much work still needed to be done to convince the government before the next spending review.


"Alcoholics are an unpopular client group, like drug users," she told delegates.

"We need to make the case to invest in alcohol treatment or we won't get the money. Could you spend £100 million wisely? I suspect that the answer would be no.

"We haven't got a seminal document on what alcohol treatment works that is agreed among all stakeholders."

Perera said the sector still needed evidence-based frameworks, clinical models and data sets, and a cost-benefit analysis indicating crime reduction, health benefits and impact on families.


Frank Warburton, director of services at the charity DrugScope, said that, although drug users were now accessing treatments within weeks, those with alcohol problems had to wait six months.

He joined other delegates in suggesting that prime minister Tony Blair's recent meeting with brewers to discuss alcohol-related crime underlined the low priority given to treatment and services.

"I would raise questions about a partnership that is dependent on the self-regulation of a very large and profitable industry," he said.