You might as well die.

Bad news today about possible/likely closures of residential rehab beds. There are about 5-600 beds in residential units around the UK for the treatment of people with drug and alcohol problems. They tend to be used as a weapon of last resort by referring agencies – we send people to them when all else in the community has failed or is likely to fail. And research evidence shows that provided clients stay in them for a reasonable time (the longer the better, but three months seems to be the key) then outcomes can be good.

But funding has been getting tighter and tighter. In my own area the bar for getting funding for rehab (from Social Services) has been getting higher and higher, until last year you had to be practically dead before funding was agreed. By doing this it ensured that the budget was not completely spent and therefore this year allowed the budget to be cut back to the amount spent last year. Cunning really as it could then be presented as no cut in funding on last year’s spend but is in fact a cut in the total budget available.
Whilst treatment in the community has got much better there still remain a hardcore of people for whom the only real chance they have is residential rehab. But hey, they’re only junkies so who cares?