Government has cut this year's grant awarded to the National Drug Commission (NDC) by over one million dollars in comparison to last year, according to the budget released by Finance Minister Eugene Cox yesterday.

The NDC has come under fire in recent months with the release of an independent report calling the Island's treatment of addicts "woefully lacking" and "on the verge of collapse".

The report cited problems such as inexperienced staff, inadequate and outdated treatment, and a lack of research, communication and leadership in some of the Island's drug agencies, despite the $23 million spent on drug issues each year.

The report also noted increased politicising of the NDC based on the party in power, and called for Government to temporarily shut the NDC down or, at a minimum, hire key leadership from outside the country to direct the NDC and its key components.

"The history of the NDC and its board does not instil confidence that it can develop and lead the efforts at a true system of care," stated the report.

However a Ministry spokesman said the million-dollar grant cut in the budget this year was not due to the ineffectiveness of the NDC, but to the cash situation, with the NDC not progressing at the rate they had hoped to in 2002. The NDC will be starting the fiscal year on April 1 with a hefty surplus of about one million dollars in hand, said the spokesman.

In recognition of that unspent money the grant awarded to the NDC has been drastically scaled back.

Last year it was $3,993,000; this year it will only be $2,858,000, a decrease of $1,135,000.