Sector urges alcohol treatment re-think

Media release – National Committee for Addiction Treatment
10 September 2009
For immediate release

The alcohol treatment sector is calling for an urgent re-think of priorities in how we deal with alcohol misuse. It is endorsing concerns raised by the Law Commission in its liquor law review about the lack of treatment facilities and programmes available for people with alcohol problems.

Chris Kalin, Chief Executive of addiction treatment centre Odyssey House, said the Law Commission’s initial report paints a worrying picture the treatment sector has known about for a long time.

“Alcohol misuse is a widespread and increasing problem with an estimated social cost of $5.3 billion a year1 but we spend just $100 million a year on treatment. If we’re worried about the detrimental effects alcohol misuse has on all of our lives, it makes no sense to do so little. The problem will not just take care of itself.

“But with treatment, people affected by alcohol can get better and become significant contributors to society.”

Seventy percent of court appearances are related to alcohol, but District Court Judges told the Law Commission they were gravely concerned they had nowhere to send offenders for rehabilitation.

“Resources are stretched so thinly that only serious cases are receiving treatment. The tragedy is that people with less serious problems get ignored until they get worse,” Kalin said.

The report says there is good evidence that brief interventions can be highly effective and cost-effective for treating less severe alcohol-use problems, but that there is a shortage of skilled addiction treatment practitioners able to provide lower-level treatment services.

The sector is calling on government to raise alcohol taxes to pay for more treatment programmes and workers, and to co-ordinate funding streams to fill gaps where no services are available.

Estimates are that for every dollar spent on interventions at least four dollars are saved in social costs, but Kalin says it’s not just about money. It’s also about doing things smarter.

“At the moment there is little co-ordination between the treatment and justice sectors. We agree with the Law Commission that assessment and treatment need to go hand in hand with sentencing so offenders with alcohol problems get access to programmes as part of their rehabilitation. This is often when an individual’s motivation to undergo treatment is at its greatest.

“It’s about getting treatment to people whatever their level of alcohol dependence so we can intervene before problems escalate. That means making a range of programmes widely available and easy to access no matter where a person lives.”

The Law Commission’s initial report suggests the following may be needed to address problems with access to treatment.

Provide centres for temporary supervision for individuals who are not charged with an offence but pose a significant concern to their own or others’ safety or health.

Require the need for alcohol and other drug assessment and treatment to be taken into account during sentencing in cases where alcohol and other drugs may have contributed to the offending.

Develop the workforce to ensure assessment, referral and brief interventions can be delivered by appropriate professionals across sectors (for example, primary care, mental health, emergency departments, justice, corrections, education, Work and Income, ACC).

Investigate the range of alcohol-specific treatment interventions provided, with a view to determining gap areas (such as alcohol detoxification and nationally consistent drink driving group interventions) with the potential to increase funding via the alcohol levy managed through ALAC.
Fund primary care providers to deliver screening, brief interventions and referral to specialist treatment.

Investigate the feasibility of using electronic screening and brief interventions in a range of settings.

Monitor the prevalence of alcohol-use disorders and the delivery of screening, brief intervention and referrals in primary care and Emergency Departments.
The alcohol treatment sector supports the Law Commission’s recommendations.

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