BBC NEWS Alcoholics could see benefits cut Minister James Purnell has announced a review into the idea to be carried out jointly by the Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions.
Measures that require drug addicts to get treatment in order to keep receiving benefits are currently going through Parliament.
The Conservatives said Labour had failed to "get to grips" with welfare.
Critics - including an addiction treatment charity and reformed alcoholic - say they doubt the measures will help addicts recover.
Mr Purnell said the government wanted to help people get the assistance they needed.
Speaking on a visit to Dewsbury Moor in West Yorkshire, he said: "We have introduced a new policy that will mean heroin and crack addicts get treatment in return for benefits.
"We will actually help them rather than simply handing them money which ends up in pockets of drug dealers.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said this latest review was "another smokescreen" to "deflect from Labour's failure to get to grips with our welfare system"
She added: "Under James Purnell the system has gone into meltdown with more than 100,000 people claiming benefits because they are drug addicts or alcoholics. That's more than doubled from 48,700 since 1997.
"The government has had more than a decade to sort this problem out so this is too little, too late.
"The devil is always in the detail with Labour. Mr Purnell has failed to say when this will happen, how much it will cost and who it will exactly help."
Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Webb said the plans were "no more than typical New Labour posturing.”
He added: "Threatening to deprive people of their basic benefits unless they recover from alcoholism is fundamentally inhumane.
"There are far too few support services for alcoholics, and there is no evidence that people who are threatened in this way are more likely to seek help."
A spokesman for drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction said that, historically, help for people with alcohol problems was under-funded.
"We support measures to get treatment to the people who need it, but that treatment needs proper funding to be effective," he said.
Measures that require drug addicts to get treatment in order to keep receiving benefits are currently going through Parliament.
The Conservatives said Labour had failed to "get to grips" with welfare.
Critics - including an addiction treatment charity and reformed alcoholic - say they doubt the measures will help addicts recover.
Mr Purnell said the government wanted to help people get the assistance they needed.
Speaking on a visit to Dewsbury Moor in West Yorkshire, he said: "We have introduced a new policy that will mean heroin and crack addicts get treatment in return for benefits.
"We will actually help them rather than simply handing them money which ends up in pockets of drug dealers.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said this latest review was "another smokescreen" to "deflect from Labour's failure to get to grips with our welfare system"
She added: "Under James Purnell the system has gone into meltdown with more than 100,000 people claiming benefits because they are drug addicts or alcoholics. That's more than doubled from 48,700 since 1997.
"The government has had more than a decade to sort this problem out so this is too little, too late.
"The devil is always in the detail with Labour. Mr Purnell has failed to say when this will happen, how much it will cost and who it will exactly help."
Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Webb said the plans were "no more than typical New Labour posturing.”
He added: "Threatening to deprive people of their basic benefits unless they recover from alcoholism is fundamentally inhumane.
"There are far too few support services for alcoholics, and there is no evidence that people who are threatened in this way are more likely to seek help."
A spokesman for drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction said that, historically, help for people with alcohol problems was under-funded.
"We support measures to get treatment to the people who need it, but that treatment needs proper funding to be effective," he said.
"Stopping someone's benefits could have a real impact on any children they may have. It's essential that families are taken into account when such decisions are being made."
Perhaps it is time this Government called an election, for the sake of all our health.
“When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.” Ayn Rand
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