Offenders offered better options for recovery

Platform is thrilled with Minister Adams’ decision to continue the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court pilots that began in 2012. The courts offer treatment for alcohol and other drug dependency as an alternative to imprisonment for those affected, and the pilot has already shown positive results.

“We unhesitatingly support the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court model and we’re grateful that Minister Adams has seen the effectiveness of this alternative measure to imprisonment,” says Marion Blake, CEO of Platform Trust.

“Our members routinely offer community treatment options for people experiencing alcohol or other drug dependency and we know it’s better for offenders, as well as fiscally for government, for these services to be called on rather than to imprison someone who really needed treatment and support.”

Naomi Cowan, Chairperson of Platform Trust supports this view. “It’s really a bigger question about how we want our society to work,” she says. “It feels like New Zealand is acknowledging that people sometimes need support to overcome and recover from dependency on substances that have taken them down a path to offending, and that prison is unlikely to be the best way for them to recover.”

The pilot has been extended for three years and further evidence will continue to be examined to substantiate this option’s efficacy. Platform Trust is the national network of community organisations that support New Zealanders by providing a wide range of mental health and addiction services and creating a positive place for people experiencing mental health and addiction issues to live and work.

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