It’s either the drink or the dole: Go into rehab or lose benefits, alcoholics and drug addicts told…

The Minister of Manslaughter

Drug users and alcoholics are to be forced to enter treatment or face losing out-of-work benefits, Iain Duncan Smith will announce today.
The Work and Pensions Secretary will reveal that 160,000 dependent drinkers are in receipt of one or more of the main welfare handouts, with large numbers having been claiming for a decade or more.
Around 80 per cent of Britain’s estimated 400,000 ‘problem’ drug users are also claiming.

Sources said that the new universal credit, which is replacing all existing out-of-work benefits from next year, will be used to introduce contracts with addicts that would require them to seek treatment or see their payments halted.
In a speech tonight to an Alcoholics Anonymous event in Parliament, Mr Duncan Smith will say the change to universal credit will be used to dramatically switch the support that is currently on offer from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ intervention.
‘The outdated benefits system fails to get people off drugs and put their lives on track,’ he will say.
‘We have started changing how addicts are supported, but we must go further to actively take on the  devastation that drugs and alcohol can cause.
‘Under universal credit we want to do more to encourage and support claimants into rehabilitation for addiction and start them on the road to recovery and, eventually, work.
Getting people into work and encouraging independence is our ultimate goal.
‘Universal credit will put people on a journey towards a sustainable recovery so they are better placed to look for work in future, and we will be outlining our plans shortly.’

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