‘Timely and useful’ data on drug use in ethnic groups should be gathered to feed into the next drug strategy, says a new report from the ACMD. Cultural competence and diversity also needs to be enhanced in drug services across the country, says Drug use in ethnic minority groups: a review and recommendations.
There is currently an ‘inconsistent and fragmented’ picture of the prevalence of drug use across minority groups says the report, which forms part of a series of ACMD documents on drug use in vulnerable populations. Structural barriers – including ‘stigma, mistrust, cultural insensitivity, and negligible service visibility’ – have all been found to limit engagement with treatment, adds a covering letter from the ACMD to policing minister Sarah Jones.
More research is needed to understand the differences in harms, engagement and treatment outcomes in different groups and the factors that influence them, it continues. Workforce planning, meanwhile, should define the competencies necessary to develop culturally sensitive services that are able to properly understand the issues of stigma and shame that deter many people from accessing support. Ethnic groups should also be represented in services ‘across all levels’, it states, from frontline workers to board and trustee level.
According to last year’s Adult Psychiatry Morbidity Survey (APMS), ‘all drug’ use in the previous year was highest for white respondents, at 26 per cent, followed by ‘mixed/multiple/other ethnicities’ (22 per cent), Black/Black British (12 per cent) and Asian/Asian British (2 per cent). Drug dependence, meanwhile, was highest in the mixed/multiple/other ethnicities group at 22 per cent, followed by white (15 per cent) and Black/Black British (6 per cent).
Adopting the report’s recommendations would help to develop a clearer, more robust evidence base, ensure better targeting of policies and funding, improve service uptake and engagement, and reduce levels of stigma and inequalities, said ACMD chair Professor David Wood.
Drug use in ethnic minority groups: a review and recommendations available here