2009-06-08 03:05:52
By Jim Reed & Izzy Fairbairn
Newsbeat reporters
A record number of young people were treated for a drugs and alcohol problem
last year.
Counsellors in England alone saw 52,294 people aged 13-24, a rise of 12% in two
years, according to data from the National Treatment Agency (NTA).
There's been a sharp drop in those addicted to 'hard' drugs like heroin.
Instead under-25s are now more likely to have a problem with a cocktail of
party drugs like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy, often mixed with alcohol.
Campaigners say treatment services aimed at young adults need to change quickly
to deal with what some are calling the biggest shift in drug habits in a
generation.
'Taken it all'
Newsbeat went to a drug treatment scheme in Stockport to speak to 24-year-old
Steve, not his real name, from Liverpool.
"It first started when I was 15," he said.
"Cannabis led to whizz, Es, pills and coke. Alcohol and drugs were a major part
of my life for five years.
"When you're young you hate to be the one left out and most my friends at
school were alcohol and drug users.
"I was taking whatever I could get my hands on and mixing them with alcohol. We
would come back at one or two in the morning every night and my mum and dad
would be fuming."
Treatment rises
Officials from the NTA say the overall rise in treatment over the last three
years does not necessarily mean a record number of young people are abusing
drugs and alcohol.
They claim at least part of the increase can be explained by the growth in
treatment services.
Young people picked up by the police are also more likely to be drug tested and
referred to a treatment centre.
But the figures do show a major change in the kind of drugs young people are
getting treated for.
Counsellors are seeing a dramatic shift away from heroin and crack use, the two
'problem drugs' typically linked to serious abuse.
18,597 people aged 13-24 were treated for an addiction to those two drugs last
year, down 19% in just two years.
At the same time, more young people are having a problem with booze mixed with
'softer' party drugs, a phenomenon nicknamed ACCE (pronounced 'ace') by drug
workers, short for Alcohol plus Cocaine, Cannabis and Ecstasy.
The number of under-25s getting treatment for one or more of those drugs has
gone up 44% from 21,744 in 2005/6 to 31,401 in 2007/8.
"Alcohol is cheaper and more available, cannabis is far stronger, cocaine is
half the price it used to be and you can get half a dozen ecstasy tablets for
10," according to Howard Parker, Professor Emeritus at Manchester University,
who coined the term 'ACCE' last year.
"Put those three together and you've got just as serious a problem for health,
family life and society as heroin."
Work carried out by Parker and researchers at Liverpool John Moores University
shows the average age of a heroin user in treatment in North West England has
risen to 36. The average age of someone with an ACCE problem is just 22.
Alcohol is cheaper... cannabis is far stronger... you can get half a dozen
ecstasy tablets for 10
Professor Howard Parker
But while youth services aimed at under-18s can be effective at dealing with an
ACCE-type problem, when users hit their 18th birthday they are often forced to
switch to an adult-only drug treatment service.
"Those [adult] services are there to deal with heroin and crack users," said
Parker. "The real issue is why there are hardly any services for ACCErs when
they get to 18. It's just pot luck; it's a postcode lottery."
Adult drug projects are paid twice as much for treating a heroin and crack user
as someone with a powder cocaine or ecstasy problem.
As a result, those services tend to focus on medical treatment like methadone
replacement, a drug used to wean heroin users off their addiction.
But there are no 'replacement' drugs to treat a cocaine or cannabis problem.
Instead months or even years of therapy and support are needed to get users to
manage their drug problem and eventually quit.
Alcohol plus drugs
The man in charge of young people's drug policy for the National Treatment
Agency, Tom Aldridge, told Newsbeat that adult services focus on heroin and
crack users for a reason.
"There are very clear links between acquisitive crime and problematic [heroin
and crack] drug use," he said.
"We want to prioritise those drugs because they have more of an impact on
society in terms of criminal activity and public health.
"But we are very clear that people should be given a service depending on their
need, not depending on their age.
"If you have a 20 or 21-year-old that requires treatment best given by an
under-18 service then they should go to that service."
All under-18 services in England combine alcohol and drug treatment so young
people can get detox and therapy for both problems at the same time.
But almost all adult services split alcohol and drugs into two completely
separate programmes in different locations with different counsellors and
critics say that can often mean young people drop out.
Tom Aldridge accepts that there may be an argument for combining alcohol and
drug treatment for over-18s in England, as they have recently decided to do in
Northern Ireland.
"We have no responsibility for the alcohol agenda," he said. "If that were the
case, there may well be lots in advantages in that. But it's not the case at
the moment."
The Stockport solution
But in some parts of the country a handful of treatment services are already
changing the way they work to deal with the ACCE phenomenon.
Newsbeat went to see a council-run drug scheme for young people in Stockport
that has increased the age range of its patients from 18 all the way up to 25.
Heidi Shaw, who runs the centre called Mosaic, said that decision was a direct
result of seeing more young people with recreational drug problems come through
the doors.
"We knew those young people would not get help elsewhere," she said. "Their
lives are still being devastated by drugs. They are still having problems with
crime, housing, training and employment.
"The same profile of substance misuse is coming through. It's cannabis, alcohol
and then cocaine."
Mosaic also runs a service to support parents and family members of people in
treatment and carries out drug prevention work in Stockport's 14 schools.
Steve has been getting treatment for his alcohol and drug problems there for
four years.
My life's changed because I'm off alcohol completely and I'm working on the
drugs
Steve, recovering drug user
"I feel more comfortable because they seem to understand more about you," he
said. "They contact you virtually every day to see how you are doing.
"I went through detox. They put you in a dry house for a week and give you
medication to counteract the effects of alcohol and the cravings.
"Since then I've not touched a drop and I've got Mosaic to thank for that.
"My life's changed because I'm off alcohol completely and I'm working on the
drugs. Hopefully this time next year, I will be off them as well."