Assistance too late reaching alcoholics

John Cashmore and Eileen Styles in their council flat in Miramar. Picture / Mark Mitchell

It has taken 29 convictions and 24 years, but our justice system has finally conceded that John Cashmore has a drink problem.

Mr Cashmore, 46, first went to court for alcohol-related offences in 1982.

He met his partner, Eileen, when they were drinking sherry and sleeping rough at the Basin Reserve in Wellington 12 years ago.

They lived on the streets on and off until they were given a council flat under the city's Project Margin for the homeless in 2004.

Last year they were moved after a fire in the next-door flat, and they now face eviction from their new flat in Miramar after another fire sparked by methylated spirits, the cheapest form of alcohol they can buy.

The courts finally stepped in this month when Mr Cashmore, after years of minor offences such as disorderly behaviour and drunk-driving, was charged with assaulting his partner.

"Apparently in my drunken state I put a knife to her throat," he said. "So I hear later. You know how the next day you don't remember a thing."

Downtown Ministry social worker Di Landy grasped the chance. She got Mr Cashmore to court and asked for an order for an alcohol and drug assessment.

"When I went to pick him up, he fell to the floor and soiled himself. He couldn't even walk," she said.

"But I got him to court. I had to get the police to get him to come with me. I needed to get a letter before the judge that he needs an assessment."

The assessor, Roger Brooking, has recommended that Mr Cashmore should be committed for treatment under the Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Act at Nova Lodge near Christchurch, the only facility in the country likely to be willing to take him.

His doctor for 10 years, Pat Hill, said gardening work at Nova Lodge would give him "time out", but it was probably too late to save him permanently.

"I live in hope," Dr Hill said. "But I have said to this man again and again and again, 'John, do you want to do anything about your alcoholism?' The answer is a resounding, 'No!"'

Mr Cashmore is one of thousands of alcohol or drug addicts who appear in New Zealand courts each year. Only a fraction get court-ordered assessments.

A 1999 survey found that 83 per cent of prisoners had abused or been dependent on alcohol or drugs.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft said last week that 70 to 80 per cent of youth offenders had drug and/or alcohol problems.

Mr Brooking said 70 per cent of all criminal offences were alcohol- or drug-related.

Yet Justice Ministry statistics supplied to Mr Brooking show that alcohol and drug assessments were ordered for only 3.7 per cent of the 105,000 convictions in the courts last year.

Assessments were ordered for only 3 per cent of people on their first drunk-driving conviction, 4 per cent of those convicted for their second such offence, 13 per cent of those up for the third time, 23 per cent of those up for the fourth time and 29 per cent of those up for a fifth or higher conviction on drunk-driving charges.

Overall, only 5 per cent of the 22,480 drunk-driving convictions last year resulted in court-ordered alcohol and drug (A&D) assessments.

"The problem is that judges don't usually request an A&D assessment on drink drivers until their fourth or fifth offence," Mr Brooking said.

"By the time these offenders are on to their fourth or fifth drink-driving offence, they usually get sent to jail anyway, where they certainly won't get any treatment or counselling. [Only 4 per cent of prisoners will get on to alcohol or drug programmes this year].

"An assessment at this late stage in their offending is almost a waste of time and taxpayers' money. To make a difference, such assessments need to be done early. It's too late for Mr Cashmore."

Justice Minister Mark Burton said officials were looking at the use of alcohol and drug assessments and the feasibility of extending A&D programmes in prisons as part of a multi-agency project on "effective interventions" to reduce criminal offending and prisoner numbers.

"The project, which is due to report to the Government in mid-2006, will consider the feasibility of alternatives to imprisonment for some offences," he said.

* Social service agencies are drawing plans for "wet houses" to supervise drinking by chronic alcoholics. A Wellington group is proposing an eight- to 12-bed house where alcoholics could be allowed to drink but not binge-drink.

HARD-TO-GET

* Only 3 per cent of first-time drink-drivers are ordered to get alcohol and drug dependency assessments.
* That rises to 29 per cent of people on their fifth or more convictions

Assessments ordered
1st conviction 3%
2nd conviction 4%
3rd conviction 13%
4th conviction 23%
5th conviction+ 29%
All 5%

Source: Justice Ministry figures for 2005, supplied to Roger Brooking.