Prevention will save addicts from criminal justice system, says MHK

Sat, 28 Nov 2015

Problems with drug and alcohol abuse on the Island shouldn't always be pushed into the criminal justice system.

That's according to Onchan MHK Peter Karran who's raised concerns about the cost saying it would be better to spend money on prevention.

Last week it was confirmed there are no detailed statistics available on substance misuse - the Department of Health and Social Care says it will now carry out a "needs assessment".

This will make up the new Drug and Alcohol Strategy - Mr Karran says people need to be given help instead and the department needs funding for this: