ABSTRACT
The notion that complex social problems required joined-up policy solutions was one of the key principles driving social policy in the late 1990s. The first ten-year Drug Strategy (HM Government 1998) was a powerful expression of this principle. While relatively brief about the specifics of how UK drug treatment services should develop, the strategy was clear that treatment was part of a response to drug use in society. The strategy addressed issues of both supply and demand for drugs and argued that treatment needed to be co-ordinated with the activities of the criminal justice system. The key ‘treatment element’ of the Drug Strategy was the establishment of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) in 2001. The role of the NTA was to oversee an increase in the availability, capacity and effectiveness of drug treatment services. In 2002, the NTA published Models of Care for the Treatment of Adult Drug Misusers (hereafter referred to as Models of Care) which proposed a national framework for the commissioning of drug treatment services (NTA 2002b).
