A 38-year-old man became the first Briton to accept £200 from a controversial American charity after having the operation on the NHS.
Project Prevention, which has paid for more than 1,200 addicts to be sterilised in the United States, claims the cash incentives prevent unwanted children being born to people unable to look after them.
But critics have claimed the scheme goes against the fundamental principles of the NHS and could place an unfair burden on the service if thousands of addicts suddenly signed up.
The addict, identified only as John from Leicester, underwent the procedure last month after contacting the charity. Once he provided proof he had been sterilised, he received £200.
Barbara Harris, who set up Project Prevention in the US in 1997, after adopting four children born to a crack cocaine addict, has appealed for more British drug takers to sign up to the scheme.
John admitted he was swayed by the cash. He said: “I would have thought people would be snapping up the offer as soon as it became apparent as it was there.
“I am 38 now. I’ve been involved with, and I suppose on some levels psychologically dependent, on drugs since probably about the age of 11 or 12. I won’t be able to support a kid.”
But Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope said: “It is a fundamental principle of the NHS constitution that all treatment should be both informed and consensual; we believe that offering cash incentives to often very poor and marginalised people in return for sterilisation runs directly counter to this. It is exploitative, ethically dubious and morally questionable.”
Telegraph UK