| The money, from within the previously-announced social work budget, will be used to extend a programme which began in Perth in 2000 and later went region-wide.
It allows drug users who have been taken into police custody to volunteer to engage with drug treatment and other services with a view to reducing their offending behaviour.
Mr Henry told a conference of drugs workers that dealing with those who misuse substances in the community “offers the best prospect of breaking the cycle of criminal behaviour”.
He continued, “Efficient and effective justice is not just about punishing criminals. It is about providing people with routes out of crime.
“Arrest referral schemes can offer relatively minor offenders the opportunity to agree to treatment as an early alternative to being dealt with through the criminal courts.”
Funding of over £1 million was announced for the extension of arrest referral projects in Tayside, Edinburgh and Renfrewshire, and for two-year pilots in Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway and Lanarkshire.
Speaking at the joint Scottish Executive and Drug Action Team Association conference in Grangemouth, Mr Henry also revealed that every sheriff court in Scotland will have access to Drug Testing and Treatment Orders (DTTOs) as an option when dealing with drug-related crime.
The DTTO is a disposal for offenders who might otherwise receive a custodial sentence, and aims to reduce the amount of theft and robbery committed to fund drug misuse.
Continued Mr Henry, “We introduced DTTOs, initially in Glasgow and then Fife, to test their effectiveness.
“External evaluation has been positive, and last year we committed the Executive to rolling out DTTOs to courts covering about 70% of the Scottish population.”
DTTOs were introduced in Tayside in March, but it emerged last week that they had become a victim of their own success as places on the scheme were filled to capacity.
However, Mr Henry told the conference that the Executive will “make available the necessary resources to ensure courts in every part of Scotland have the option to impose DTTOs as an alternative to custody”.
The amount of funding to be made available will be determined following discussions with providers over the coming weeks. To date, 720 orders have been made across Scotland.
“Drug Treatment and Testing Orders and Arrest Referral schemes tackle the real issues behind crime,” added Mr Henry.
“They allow people who have committed drug-related offences to overcome their drug problems and to live healthy, crime-free lives, making our communities safer places to live.”
Representatives from Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross Drug Action Teams were among those at the conference. |
