Third of Drug Rehab Centres Close in just Five Years

Published by Barry Allardyce on 28-March-2019. Category:Politics

It’s not looking good for Britain with Sky News reporting that the increased closure of rehab centers kept alive by funding from the common citizenship could result in skyrocketing crime. Every year seems to bring with it the slamming of doors by such centers with three having bitten the dust in the past five years alone.

One privately funded rehab provider- has obtained information detailing that there were just 5 shy off 200 public rehab facilities across the country about half a decade ago. That figure has dwindled by 56, according to their findings, and couple that with a budget reduction close to £60m and it’s clear that Britain is definitely not headed in the right direction.

As revenue cuts continue to chock the life out of centers that have helped addicts for several years, recovering addict Anthony Corbett believes the world is set to only get darker. Corbett’s currently getting the help he needs at Bristo’s Chandos House but that help won’t be available for much longer as the center is barely clinging to existence with a closure lingering in the horizon.

Thousands of others like him will be one short of a place that has changed countless lives over the years and Anthony believes this will tip the war on addiction to the losing side.

Those seeking a high will do anything it takes for the money they need with Corbett himself who once served time in prison confessing he too would look “elsewhere” for financial requirements if he were in such a predicament.

South Bristol’s Hartcliffe area has been hard hit by drug abuse more than most and is considered a haven for crack cocaine and heroin. Sky News journeyed out to learn how things are in a place that seems forgotten accompanied by police who’ve been futilely engaged in a battle to rid the streets of the problem that consumes it.

Law enforcers have found it hard to turn the tide in their favor with the actual dealers proving particularly as evasive as, if not even more than, a deer rifling across the Serengeti to get away from a famished predator. Dealers’ know the dilapidated layouts like the back of their hands hence almost always outmaneuver those who follow in pursuit.

On this day though, the police would have the last laugh nabbing a suspected dealer alongside class A drugs totaling up to a staggering £700 during a raid sparked by a tip-off. Cocaine and heroin were sold in small plastic vessels that would easily pass for eggs to the not-so-keen eye. So insolent have the dealers become that they would dare armed police offers with threats of revenge even as they are arrested which is possibly indicatively of a scheme tracing back to the high and mighty.

While in many places across the country those caught in possession are meet with an iron fist prosecution, the Avon and Somerset police offer an alternative considered by many to be nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist. They offer awareness courses which they argue frees up hands to tend to more pressing drug-related concerns such as unveiling the actual perpetrators i.e. the dealers.

The story of one time 15-year dealer Simon epitomizes what leads users to a life of crime as he says it’s the only way he could manage to foot the expensive bill of a daily fix. He spends his days curled up in “crack dens”, or more accurately buildings so unkempt that they seem like a prize of war, contemplating where and how to get the next fix which is the only thing users really care about.

Simon is laden with scars while his legs are swollen, both testament to the times when injections went wrong. His years of getting high on “snowball”- a blend of heroin and cocaine- have rendered him as such leading to not only physical problems but also mental turmoil as he grapples with an addiction that has ruined his life.

Simon looks to change his current situation before it’s too late but, unfortunately, a lack of money means he cannot get any help. He’s been using for years and that doesn’t look like changing anytime soon if rehab centers keep going under. Simon considers jail to have been a nice getaway with the luxury of three-meals-a-day not one he enjoys as he is practically homeless.

The plight of Simon and many others across the country just like him have however not gone unnoticed with the Department of Health pledging to release £16 billion in the way of treatment and support.