Extra funding and counsellors have resulted in the best ever session of island drug retreat Camp Spirit, said programme manager Charles Farmer.

The programme at Darrell's island re-opened in January after an eight-month hiatus and now five clients are about to complete the programme and move into the community.

Mr. Farmer said the three-month session, which is nearly over, was "going very, very well".

"It's been the best session we have ever had. For the first time we have adequate funding."

He thanked the National Drug Commission, which took over the programme from drug counsellors Focus, for the extra support. Camp Spirit has gone from one counsellor to five, meaning that there are more individual sessions with clients.

"Clients get at least two one-on-one sessions per week; sometimes it's three or four," he said.

He said Washington, DC counsellor Clayton Scott is instructing two local counsellors.

The programme has 11 clients but last night Mr. Farmer was interviewing more and expected to reach the full Camp Spirit complement of 14.

Clients must commit to doing 90 days on the island retreat which gives hard-core addicts a complete break from the temptations of the mainland.