Clear rhetoric and blurred reality: The development of a recovery focus in UK drug treatment policy and practice

Abstract This paper looks at the transformation of UK drug treatment policy in the priority that is now being given to recovery. The paper explores the factors that helped shape that transformation and notes that in the main the influences were external to those directly involved in delivering drug treatment (research, politicians, media, think tanks) and that whilst the combined influence of these elements succeeded in reframing policy, it has left the realm of drug treatment service delivery unclear in a number of key areas including: determining how long drug users should remain in treatment; avoiding relapse; relations between professional drug workers and peer supporters; and meeting the diverse needs of drug users including those who are not seeking to become drug free. The paper concludes by considering what kind of initiatives and mechanisms may be needed to ensure a closer alignment between policy and practice within the drug treatment sphere.