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A Home Office-led programme designed to reduce drugs deaths and drug-related offending has been closed after less than five years in operation.
In a guidance document, updated on 7 April 2025, the government said that Project ‘ADDER’ (Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery) ended on 31 March 2025.
The programme was established in November 2020 with a remit to “establish a multi-agency partnership approach to tackle drug misuse and test innovative new approaches to reduce drug-related offending and drug deaths”.
Initially intended to run for three years, the programme was extended by the Home Office to run for a further two years.
It provided government funding via police forces operating in 13 local authority areas of England and Wales that were considered to be most affected by illegal drug use.
Data published in January 2025 by the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), showed that between January 2021 and March 2023, 4,966 people in drug treatment benefited from Project ADDER.
From April 2023, this data are no longer captured on the NDTMS and can therefore not be reported.
In addition, from January 2021 until June 2024, the project also contributed to 39,696 arrests, 6,609 drug trafficking charges and 17,689 community resolutions for drug possession offences.
Amira Guirguis, chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s science and research committee, said: “The closure of Project ADDER may have mixed implications for drug-related deaths and harms.
“A central government evaluation published in February 2025 found that while the project increased treatment referrals and supported recovery, particularly among hard-to-reach populations in some localities, it did not lead to a statistically significant reduction in drug-related deaths during its initial funding period. This may suggest that although the groundwork for long-term change may have been laid, tangible outcomes, such as reduced mortality, often require more time to be measured.
“The project’s end risks interrupting this progress, especially in areas where vital partnerships, such as collaborations between police and public health services, were still developing or relied on ADDER-specific funding and coordination.
“However, if the lessons learned from ADDER are effectively embedded into wider drug policy, its closure need not result in a loss of momentum,” she added.
Turning Point, a social enterprise that supports those affected by substance misuse, is one organisation that has stopped receiving funding from Project ADDER.
However, a spokesperson for the organisation said its services avoided “major issues”, as the funding was replaced by what is now called the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant, which is provided by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).
The spokesperson said: “Whilst the Project ADDER funding was mainly focused on criminal justice, the OHID grants allowed services to restructure how the new funding was used and focus on other programmes, such as rough sleeping and specialist substance use, as well as criminal justice. This has led to a stronger all-round drug and alcohol service.”
The Home Office was contacted for comment.
