Addicts start to work towards a normal life

BBC News Online's Finlo Rohrer talks to two people who have gone through the programme and back it as a powerful alternative to prison.

Dominic Crouch has tangible relief in his voice when he speaks about not using drugs of any kind since his last court appearance on 29 April 2002.

Then, instead of prison, his shoplifting was punished with a six-month order and six months or probation and the transformation in his life is total.

"I haven't used drugs since I arrived at court on 29 April 2002. I don't think you can get off drugs with just your willpower. They need time with you.

"If you've been given an order and you don't leave and you go to the meetings and they can open you up, there is a big possibility it could be a success for anyone."

Prison would have educated me in improving my criminality Dominic Crouch Former addict

Dominic, from Bournemouth, slipped into drug abuse despite having a father who was a policeman.

"I was surfing a lot when I was young. I started smoking cannabis, it was part of a lifestyle, there were a group of us, a couple found harder drugs.

"I got by with work for a few months, lost jobs through stealing or unreliability and started stealing. I was doing heroin and crack and prescription drugs like valium.

"After I had been using two to three months it wasn't to get high or because I was bored, it was because I needed that drug to function and not be sick.

"It was very, very hard for my mum. She had six years of fear she would get a phone call from the hospital that I was dead. I was in hospital five or six times with overdoses and dead on arrival twice."

Group therapy

But the order marked a new start for Dominic, 22, who is now a plumber and does much voluntary work.

"I had no desire to stop using drugs before I had the order.

"We also had an hour of group therapy a day. There were workshops, something going on all day from nine until five. Very structured.

You hang around with people who are criminal and all you talk about is where you are going to get your next fix Mark Under an order

"If you were leaving the treatment centre you had to leave in groups of three or you were breaking your contract. If you broke your contract you would be hauled into the office. It takes a long time to change our behaviour.

"I've never been in prison. I was very lucky, community orders, conditional discharges, suspended sentences. It was always a big fear. It would stop me stealing now with a straight head on, but at the time nothing would have stopped me stealing. Prison would have educated me in improving my criminality.

"It all particularly worked well for me and everybody I knew. They're clean and doing well for themselves. One guy I knew has just opened a restaurant after 20 years of drug abuse."

Mark, who did not want to give his full name, lives in north London and has been on a DTTO since November for stealing two caravans worth �30,000.

Head massages

But he is adamant that it is going to give him a chance to stay clean permanently, after years of heroin and crack, and is better than any other treatment he has had.

"I originally had residential rehab but that didn't really work. Rehab's just too much, 24/7, in your face, too intense. Rehab's almost like brainwashing, you're being constantly scrutinised, somebody's looking over your shoulder.

"On the programme they have IT courses, they do relaxation classes, shiatsu head massages, acupuncture, and they do group work with a 'facilitator'.

"A session could be on relapse prevention, they do all sorts of things. All the things that when you are an addict go out of the window. You get into a certain routine where you fall out with society.

"You hang around with people who are criminal and all you talk about is where you are going to get your next fix. On the programme everything is positive."

The essence for Mark, now 32, is having the chance of a normal life in a normal flat where he will not be tempted back to drugs.

"I've been to prison 5 or 6 times. They give you a real quick detox. It is a bit harsh and hard.

"I've been in and out of jail, I've been living in crackhouses and squats. And through the help of the probation officer and people on the programme I've now got a proper roof over my head. Where I feel safe.

"I haven't passed my address to any of my former associates. In a squat you could get somebody coming round at three in the morning with four or five hundred pounds worth of crack, saying have a pipe. I don't have that in my face any more."