YOUR report 'Drugs scheme flop shock,' (Friday, March 18) was very interesting, particularly the North Yorkshire and York section which is one of the worst in the country.

The Drugs Treatment Centre in Peckitt Street was imposed on rate-paying residents six months ago.

Having witnessed the slipshod management here, it is not surprising the programmes they run result in little success.

Treatment for offenders appears to be more of a reward for their indiscretions than a corrective procedure. Those treated come and go as they please. Their friends from the nearby Magistrates' Court visit them in the street and vice versa.

This must be a managerial master-stroke - siting a treatment centre nearby a place where you can meet other criminal offenders.

The corrective programme of study is different from what was stated in the original proposal, presumably dumbed down and almost non-existent to obtain an easier and higher success figure?

And is "group working" wise or a method of introducing drug users to a larger circle of users?

Are most drug users drug dealers at some time? If so, the programme becomes an introduction agency for a wider spread of knowledge of where, when and how to get cheaper or larger quantities of drugs.

If this derisory lack of success - 13 per cent course completion at £21,000 a person - were achieved in business, education or the Health Service, the answer would be simple: removal of the directorate.

David Jobson,

Peckitt Street, York.

Updated: 09:40 Tuesday, March 22, 2005