Calls for inquiry into treatment centres

The home secretary is to investigate allegations of unauthorised
drug rehabilitation centres failing to provide proper
treatment.

At the second reading of the Drugs Bill, Liberal Democrat MP Brian
Cotter asked Charles Clarke to look at several drug and alcohol
treatment centres in his Weston-super-Mare constituency.

Cotter said: “We are concerned about unrecognised and unauthorised
rehab centres that promise rehabilitation but do not provide the
best programmes to achieve it.”

Clarke said he would read a report by Avon and Somerset police
about the allegations in the north Somerset area, which has about
10 per cent of the UK’s rehab beds.

The report, published last month, revealed that 15 people who were
not resident in registered rehabilitation centres died of
drug-related causes between 1 January 2003 and 31 August 2004. The
report said there were an “unknown number” of unregistered
establishments that accommodated drug and alcohol misusers.