An article in the latest edition of Addiction Today asserts inaccurately that "drug free is formally defined in government statistics as being on drugs."

While many other claims in the article could also be challenged, the NTA is concerned to set the record straight on this particular topic.

The facts are that the category "drug free" in official National Statistics is defined as no longer requiring structured treatment and not using any illicit drug.

The decision to discharge a client from drug treatment rests with the clinician and depends on their professional judgement.

Any individual on a methadone prescription is by definition still in treatment, and cannot be discharged or claimed as "drug free".

An individual who has overcome a drug dependency but shows signs of addiction to other substances (including alcohol or cannabis), or is at risk of relapse, should not be discharged but referred on to an appropriate service.

It therefore follows that any client recorded on the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System as having "completed treatment drug free" is judged by their clinician as having overcome the dependency for which they entered treatment and is not dependent on any other drug.

As such clients have left structured treatment they cannot be on methadone or any other substitute prescription.

And as they are now back in the community, the treatment system has no remit to intervene in legal activities like smoking or drinking unless there is evidence of problematic substance misuse.

In line with the government's Drug Strategy, the NTA is ambitious for individuals to leave treatment free of their drug dependence so they can recover fully, and is playing its part to create a recovery system that not only gets people into treatment but gets them into full recovery and off drugs for good.

The full list of current statistical definitions is set out in NDTMS Core Data Set G available at www.nta.nhs.uk/core-data-set.aspx.  This will be updated as Core Data Set H in April 2011 but these are technical revisions and no substantive changes are planned.