Drug testing and rehabilitation requirements (DRR)

Drug testing plays an important role in identifying and treating addicts and it is used by UK courts to assist in rehabilitation schemes.

Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRR) and previously, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO), are community sentences issued to drug users that are designed to help them overcome their problems.

DTTOs were influenced by the American system and introduced into the UK in 2000. Their key objective was to break the link between drug usage and crime. The tests were phased out in 2005 and replaced with DRR; however, DTTOs remain in use in Scotland.

Both community sentences set out rules that require offenders to undergo drug addiction treatment. This is accompanied by regular drug testing to monitor how the individual is responding to treatment and later checking that they are free from drugs.

The main aims of DDR programmes are to:

• Help offenders to follow a personal action plan which is designed to help them self-manage drug use and criminal activity
• Explain to offenders the links between drug use and offending and also how drugs affect health
• Help offenders to change their lifestyle for the better

DRR is a very demanding and resource intensive treatment order that can run for between six months and three years. The objective is to keep the offender free from drugs and associated crime.

Drug testing is central

Drug testing is central to DRR. Individuals must provide regular urine samples in order to allow the sentencing court to check the progress of the individual. Urine samples detect if a drug has been used in the past week and a positive test will indicate that the person has not reduced their drug habit. The courts are authorised to sentence plans if the individual is not managing to control their drug habit.

Case study

The ‘Clydebank Post’ recently reported a case in relation to the theft of a phone at Clydebank’s college campus in which the individual was given an 18-month DTTO.

During sentencing, Sheriff Simon Fraser told the defendant: “There will be a review every month. In between reviews you will be required to go and see the medical team and your supervising officer at the social work department. If, for any reason, you cannot make an appointment, you will be expected to inform the team and make another appointment. It won’t work if you do not keep appointments. If you breach the DTTO you will almost certainly go back to prison.”

This method of drug testing and use of rehabilitation orders available to the courts provides a very secure legal framework to help provide much needed treatment to individuals, while retaining the power to detain an individual if they fail to follow the plan.

Of course, if drug testing could have been carried out sooner, when a person first started to show signs of substance abuse and dependency help would have been available before the situation deteriorated to the point where the law was broken.

Drug testing plays an important role in identifying those who are dependent on illegal substances and checking their progress during rehabilitation.