the concept of an addictive personality is still unproven, I do however agree that many people seem to "cross addict" from one substance to another. There isalso evidence that traditional treatment may not be as effective as publisised by he treatment providers, and that many people recovering from addiction have done so purely on their own.
I do not want to give the impression that traditional forms of treatment (12 step etc) are ineffective, as they are obviously not, it's just the there is a theory in medicine that the further we are from a real cure for something, the more cures we have available. (the common cold is a good example) I would therfore propose that more investment into research of the nature of addiction both psychological and physical is the best way forward. This is sorely lacking in the UK and seems to almost exclusively be research on effectiveness of current treatments in the US.
Still a long way to go I would suggest.
Tom

although I would agree that NA and AA are great for some people, they are still reliant on volunteers running them. We need to be prepared to pay for these treatments through heath money and not criminal justice, thats why there is no money for alcohol, which kills more people and destroys more lives than any drug. Itmake me wonder thatif we legalised all drugs would the government bother to fund treatment at all.
Unlike the US we do have a national health service, so why can't we use it moreeffectively.

Hi everyone, I commission Drug and Alcohol services in the UK,
Does anyone agree with me that our continuing trend of following every available US model, even when we know they are failing, is a really annoying feature of this government.
In mainland Europe, most countries have recognised that flogging the criminal justice agenda is not only pointless,but it wastes the money we could be using on real treatment.
Every time either the Police or Probation service get involved we lose the therapeutic value of treatment. The police use our latest program (Drug intervention program) to recruit new informers. ( this is what they euphamistically call intelligence) and probation still call the clients offenders.
When will we learn.
I know I'm Just ranting, but it really does annoy me how much money is wasted.
I love to hear others' views

Tom