The success rate among addiction-treatment patients in the U.K. has slipped in recent years despite increased spending by the National Treatment Agency, the Telegraph reported Oct. 31.

The National Treatment Agency budget rose from $526 million in 2004-05 to about $799 million last year, but the treatment success rate fell from 3.5 percent of patients to less than 3 percent.

In 2006, for example, 5,829 addicted patients successfully completed treatment and remained abstinent, compared to 5,759 in 2004-05, the Telegraph reported. Critics say that curing an extra 70 people per year cost $272 million, or $3.85 million per person. Opposition leaders called that a "massive failed expenditure."

The NTA said in a response that the reporting on treatment expenditures was factually incorrect, and that 2,200 more people completed treatment in 2006 than had in 2004-05.

"In the last few years, there has been a massive expansion in the numbers entering drug treatment," according to the U.K. Department of Health. "It generally takes between five and seven years for an addict to successfully complete their treatment, and therefore it would be unrealistic to expect to see the results of this expansion in treatment immediately. There are now over 195,000 people accessing drug treatment every year, 130 per cent more than in 1998."