Drug addicts are being charged enormous sums for personal rehabilitation providers which they don’t want, a number one UK skilled within the discipline has claimed.
The revelations observe a serious scandal in 2018, when it was revealed that non-public companies – generally known as affected person brokers – had been posing as free habit recommendation helplines on-line and referring callers to costly non-public rehab clinics.
On the time, habit consultants mentioned many of those sufferers didn’t have issues extreme sufficient to require such intensive therapy, which regularly prices as much as £20,000.
Following the experiences, search engine Google pledged to ban on-line advertisements posted by brokers.
Nevertheless, behavioural psychologist Dr Samantha Duggan, a member of the parliamentary committee on habit therapy, says brokers are nonetheless lively and have dozens of advertisements on Google.
Drug addicts are being charged enormous sums for personal rehabilitation providers they don’t want, a number one UK skilled within the discipline has claimed. (File photograph)
'This could have been addressed years in the past,' says Dr Duggan. 'If the federal government can regulate property brokers, it will possibly do the identical for relocation brokers.'
Round 300,000 folks within the UK obtain therapy for drug or alcohol habit on the NHS, whereas round 250,000 have a playing drawback – however research counsel many extra folks with habit issues will not be getting therapy.
Specialists say drug addicts who go surfing searching for assist wrongly consider that costly non-public de-addiction clinics promoted by these brokers are their greatest hope for therapy.
Round 300,000 folks within the UK obtain therapy for drug or alcohol habit on the NHS, whereas round 250,000 have a playing drawback – however research counsel many extra folks with habit issues will not be getting therapy (file picture)
'These are determined folks and they are often deceived and abused because of these unethical practices,' says Dr Duggan.
Google mentioned it was reviewing the dealer profiles uncovered by this newspaper and eradicating people who violated its insurance policies.
The spokesperson mentioned its 'pointers require companies to precisely characterize their enterprise.'
