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The UK Drug Interventions Programme

17 April 2010

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is a key part of the government's strategy for tackling drugs and reducing crime. And it's working: acquisitive crime - to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution - has fallen by almost a third since the programme started and record numbers of people are being helped with their drug misuse.

The programme, often known as DIP, involves identifying Class A drug misusing offenders as they go through the criminal justice system and putting into action a range of interventions to deal with their behaviour, getting them out of crime and into treatment and other support. This begins at an offenders first point of contact with the criminal justice system and continues through the journey that can include custody, court, sentence, treatment and beyond into resettlement.

These webpages about the programme are primarily aimed at stakeholders who help deliver, or come into contact with DIP. They describe the interventions, how things fit together and what impact DIP is having. There is also an extensive range of publications and other documents to aid understanding of the various parts of the work.

Key things to note about the Drug Interventions Programme are:

  • the programme is successful in helping reduce drug-related crime in England and Wales (since it began, acquisitive crime - to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution - has fallen by 32 per cent)
  • it is a key component for delivering against a range of cross-government targets and indicators concerned with reducing offending and drug misuse, improving health and fighting social exclusion (it also sits at the heart of the national drug strategy)
  • it offers a win-win solution: drug-misusing offenders get help through treatment and support; communities suffer less crime and criminal justice costs are reduced
  • more than 4,500 habitual drug misusers are entering treatment and rehabilitation programmes through DIP every month andmany are now back in the mainstream of society
  • many DIP clients are among the hardest-to-reach and most problematic drug misusers and have not previously engaged with treatment in any meaningful way

For more information, click here

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