The Drug Treatment Court (DTC), which provides an alternative to prison for drug addicts who are before the District Court on minor criminal charges – shoplifting or public-order offences, for example – is hoping to expand its jurisdiction outside of Dublin and be made available to people all over the country.

However, the DTC is often seen as a failure because of the low number of participants who complete, or graduate from, its programme. Since its beginning in 2001, only 50 participants have fully completed it, while five have made it to the silver phase – which means they are clean of all drugs except cannabis; 255 others have been discharged from the programme......