Funding from a Leicestershire charitable foundation has helped secure an extra £80 million for drug treatment services in England.
The Randal Charitable Foundation provided a significant grant to Think-Tank The Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) Policy Unit, which has been working with Government departments to deliver policy recommendations to help tackle the root causes of addiction, as well as to support victims and their families.
The money will be used as part of the Government’s efforts to cut crime and will mean more places for people released from prison and convicted criminals handed community sentences.
The Randal Charitable Foundation, based in Loughborough, is passionate about the relief of sickness and preservation and protection of good health, in particular the treatment of addiction linked to alcohol, drugs, and gambling in the UK; which is how the partnership with the CSJ begun.
Dr. Nik Kotecha OBE, Chair of Trustees for the Randal Charitable Foundation, said: “We are immensely proud to have been able to support the CSJ with their ground-breaking work with Government, which has been instrumental in raising awareness of the devastation that addiction causes to lives; at the highest level.
Addiction remains a shocking feature of life in many disadvantaged neighbourhoods; it can shred the fabric of society, lead to family breakdown, ruin childhoods, and can lead to welfare dependency, and interaction with the criminal justice system."
The significant enhancement in drug treatment services funding is the biggest increase in 15 years and has, in large part, been made possible through the research and lobbying work of the CSJ, amongst others.
As well as the commitment to drug treatment services, the Government has also confirmed its pledge to invest a further £28 million into pilot projects.
These pilots will help tackle organised crime groups, which exploit young people for illicit profit by running county lines and to offer a real opportunity for treatment and recovery for those in addiction.
