A FLAGSHIP scheme to get criminals off drugs has flopped in the North-East with 72 per cent of addicts failing to finish treatment, a report says today.

Only 28 per cent of drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs), an alternative to a jail term, were completed last year, or ended early after good progress, the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed.

Most of the orders were abandoned because the drug users failed to turn up to be tested or because they were convicted of a further offence.

The initiative was least successful in North Yorkshire, where 87 per cent failed to complete, followed by Tees-side with 73 per cent failure, Northumbria 72 per cent and Durham 60 per cent.

The NAO's report to parliament says: "The orders are targeted at a highly problematic group of drug misusers, often leading chaotic lives and for whom several attempts at coming off drugs may be needed."

Under the orders, lasting up to two years, offenders are expected to attend for 20 hours every week, agreeing to regular testing to ensure they have stayed off drugs.

The NAO criticised a lack of help for users to find accommodation, which meant they often drifted back to drugs.

Also a lack of resources in many areas meant the target of two drug tests a week was not met.

DTTOs are cheaper than a prison sentence, costing as little as £25 a day, compared with £100 a day in jail.

Harry Fletcher, of probat-ion union Napo, said: "DTTOs are a sound idea in principle, but the Government's obsession with targets means people are being sentenced to orders who have little hope of completion. What we need is quality rather than quantity."