Municipalities urged to improve substance abuse care
The provincial state administration has been assessing the effectiveness of municipal healthcare for substance abusers and has found it to fall short of the demand for treatment.
In a quarter of the country’s over 400 municipalities 2004 budgets for substance abuse treatment had run out by early autumn. In some municipalities there is no detoxification treatment was available at all.
The provincial state administration has urged municipal authorities, responsible for providing social services and healthcare, to develop detoxification and substance withdrawal treatment so that it is available on demand in all municipalities.
One explanation for the lack of effective services is the continual increase in alcohol consumption in the last decade in general and the last year in particular. This has led to higher levels of alcoholism and its attendant problems. Drug abuse has not increased since the 1990s, but the increase during that time is now reflected in the need for treatment services.