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Government promises largest ever investment in treatment and recovery to tackle drug use

BMJ 2021; 375 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n3031 (Published 07 December 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;375:n3031
  1. Gareth Iacobucci
  1. The BMJ

The government has promised the largest ever investment in drug treatment and recovery as part of a far reaching new 10 year strategy for tackling addiction and reducing crime in England.1

The cross departmental plan comes as drug related deaths in England and the rest of the UK reached a record high in 2020, with deaths linked to cocaine and opiates rising sharply over the past decade.2

The strategy will be underpinned by a £780m investment in treatment programmes in the NHS and in the prison service—taking the total treatment and recovery spend to more than £2.8bn over three years. There will also be £300m invested to crack down on supply chains and criminal gangs profiting from the trade in illegal drugs. Over the next three years, all local authorities in England will …

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