Drug treatment discharge link to alcohol
Alcohol abuse is frequently linked to the early discharge of patients from drug treatment programmes.
People often come out of drugs treatment drinking as much alcohol as before, if not more, thereby undermining the improvements in their lives that drugs treatment has made. They may also be risking their lives, especially in the case of injecting drug users with previous liver damage caused by Hepatitis C. ‘Of the clients who die under your care,’ writes one treatment provider, ‘most will die because of alcohol, in combination with other drugs such as benzodiazepines.’
Richard Phillips, Director of Services, Phoenix House, letter in Drink and Drugs News, 17 October 2005.