Cold turkey in sunny Spain

By Jon Silverman Home affairs analyst

Tough love is often the key to breaking a drug addict's dependency. But how tough? One group takes recovering addicts abroad and strips them of their passport.

What passes for a mature debate about drugs in the UK tends to concentrate on whether to reclassify certain substances and the wisdom of police experiments which, effectively, decriminalise possession in certain districts.

But what about the users, their often desperate search for treatment and the methods which are employed to break the vicious cycle of addiction? The following is an illuminating tale.

Drug addiction puts a strain on family members

Marilyn is 18 and has been addicted to both crack cocaine and heroin for three years. Earlier this year - after a dispiriting search for rehab close to her home in the West Midlands - she signed up for a programme run by a faith-based charity called Remar.

Remar, founded by a Spaniard 20 years ago, has centres in about 50 countries and offers not treatment, but a drug-free environment with an overtly Christian message. Marilyn was sent to a remote camp near San Sebastian in northern Spain.

Her passport was removed and she says she was locked in her room and not allowed to speak English or read anything in English.

Crack cocaine in the UK

Regular users: 177,908

Expenditure per annum: £1,811.7m

Occasional users: 32,195

Expenditure per annum: £5.8m

Source: British Crime Survey

According to her mother, Marilyn realised straight away that this regime was not for her. She escaped through a window and headed for the nearest police station. After recovering her passport, she left Spain and has had no contact with Remar since.

Sara is 27 and from Warwickshire. A long-term heroin addict, with severe anorexia which left her close to death, she, too, sought rehabilitation at a Remar centre in northern Spain.

The following is from an account by her mother.

"It was hell. She wasn't allowed to speak without permission. And when she did speak, no English was permitted. There was compulsory chanting which they believe drives out the devil."

'Military-style' escape

Sara also left clandestinely - after five months - with the help of her mother, who planned the escape like a military exercise.

You have to reach rock bottom before you can turn your life around

Spokesman for Remar

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office confirmed that, following a small number of complaints about Remar in Spain, the British consul-general in Bilbao had contacted the local police. The Foreign Office has advised others who may have concerns to get in touch with its consular desk.

The co-ordinator of a Drug Action Team in the West Midlands, Ken Stringer, has also been trying to discover more about Remar and its methods.

"From what I know, Remar would certainly not meet the quality control standards which are required in this country for an approved form of rehab or treatment. But even so, the monitoring of the voluntary drugs sector in the UK still leaves a lot to be desired."

'Call to Jesus'

Remar UK makes no bones about its philosophy. A representative from its Sheffield HQ, Jonathan Smith - a former cocaine addict - explained that discipline and control are what drug addicts lack in their everyday lives.

Britain now has thousands of crack users

"As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, you have to reach rock bottom before you can turn your life around. Yes, we take passports away and we encourage people to stay at least a year for the programme to be effective.

"And we certainly encourage people to call out to Jesus. But we are not a prison and we do not brainwash people."

It is clear that Remar's approach does not suit everyone - though it can claim success stories too.

But this cautionary story highlights the poverty of treatment available for drug addicts in Britain, especially crack users. The creation of the National Treatment Agency to oversee services is a good thing - but for many, a steep and troublesome road lies ahead.