DDN April 2021
A brave idea with tangible results
The idea of buying alcohol for people with severe dependence might seem a strange one to many. The outreach...
DDN March 2021
Early trauma is the common thread
Early trauma is an incredibly complex subject and yet it is the common thread that runs through so much...
DDN February 2021
Every small change can signal success
The Dry January campaign reports significant success this year, striking a loud chord in lockdown (p8). A characteristic of...
DDN 2020 December/Jan
‘There are much-needed glimpses of hope’
Our news in this issue leads with the positive results of the heroin assisted treatment pilot in Middlesbrough –...
DDN November 2020
‘How can we change appalling statistics?’
Writing and reading about drug-related deaths is depressing for all of us – the inevitability year after year, when...
DDN October 2020
‘We have a unique role in breaking county lines’
THE PRESSURES OF THE PANDEMIC are diverting services into new ways of working, with plenty of...
DDN September 2020
‘Will we make the most of this opportunity?’
‘IT’S ABOUT GIVING PEOPLE MUCH MORE POWER over the choices they make.’ Service providers are telling us...
DDN July/August 2020
‘Service users are central to everything’
Conversations at the moment often come back to feelings of anxiety and isolation, so we’re pleased to be able...
DDN June 2020
‘We need to be proactive and responsive’
INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENTS and impressive collaboration have characterised our sector’s response to the crisis (page 8).
But what we...
DDN May 2020
‘We’re learning about new versions of outreach’
WE’VE HAD TO CHANGE OUR PLAN for this issue several times this month as your news and survival...
DDN April 2020
‘Listen to the messages from the frontline’
WHAT’S NORMAL RIGHT NOW? The last few weeks have been a white-knuckle ride for all of us, and...
DDN March 2020
‘The savings offered by HAT give an obvious direction’
MANY YEARS AGO the UK treated heroin addiction as a medical issue, with diamorphine scripts dispensed...
DDN February 2020
‘Why can’t we reverse this shameful trend of DRDs?
EACH YEAR the cross-party parliamentary group meets to review the ONS data on drug-related deaths, and...
DDN Magazine December 2019
‘Connecting can revise our response to a world gone mad’
THIS MONTH’S ISSUE went to press on polling day, and we brace ourselves for the...
DDN Magazine November 2019
‘We loved becoming the new forum for debate’
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO we published our first issue of DDN.
I interviewed the drugs minister Caroline Flint, who...
DDN Magazine October 2019
More than my past
For a long time now we’ve been involved in initiatives to help remove barriers for those seeking to get back into...
DDN Magazine September 2019
Harm reduction is not the preserve of one community
September is a glorious opportunity to celebrate recovery month and we’re delighted to hear about the...
DDN Magazine July/August 2019
Facing the facts
It's time to challenge stigmatising language on social media
Back in 2010, the UK Drug Policy Commission analysed newspaper coverage and produced a...
DDN Magazine June 2019
Greeks bearing gifts
DDN Magazine June 2019
Twenty years ago substance misuse treatment was a government priority, with a 400 per cent increase in investment (page...
DDN May 2019
‘There is no one-size-fits all in addiction treatment... every person needs to find what gives their life a direction, fulfilment and purpose, and the...
DDN April issue
DDN April 2019
‘Recovery is not just an issue of personal motivation, but is also about acceptance.’ Our cover story (page 6) examines the thought...
DDN March 2019
Speakers at the DDN conference embraced the theme ‘Keep on Moving’. What came out very strongly was that we need to take others along...
DDN February 2019
‘We need to challenge the narrative on homelessness’
The rising rate of homelessness in this country is a scandal that shames our society. Furthermore, we...
December 2018
‘How difficult, when stigma adds to the pain’
It’s harder than usual at this time of year for any of us who have lost loved...
‘Never forget kindness in a results-driven age’
Never under-estimate the power of kindness and a safe space. The SWOP project featured in our cover story showcases the best kind of outreach...
‘We’re in danger of undervaluing vital healthcare’
Personal stories are the essence of DDN. They speak volumes about good (and bad) practice and they also serve to inspire; and that’s vitally...
DDN September 2018
‘The call for support on gambling has to be heard’
You’re in the casino chasing the big win. Everything you ever wanted could be yours....
DDN July/August 2018
‘Partnerships have brought a culture change’
Tackling stigma is always a challenge, so we were interested to hear of Double Impact’s strategy to connect with...
DDN June 2018
‘There was no suggestion of being silenced’
We could be about to see a big upsurge in crack use – but are we ready for...
DDN May 2018
‘It’s a mismatch between prison and
complex needs’
We need a new dialogue and thinking, says police and crime commissioner David Jamieson, talking about his recommendations...
DDN April 2018
‘With yet more evidence, can we justify standing still?’
How far do you have to go to show that something’s a good idea, it’s cost...
DDN March 2018
'Where there's a will, things can happen'
How do we get connected? With healthcare, with peers, colleagues, commissioners, policymakers, politicians? It’s a question that goes...
DDN February 2018
'Service users must stay at the
heart of commissioning'
Disinvestment and the fragmentation of services continue to dominate dialogue and debate. Yet according to Collective...
DDN December 2017
'Disinvestment in harm reduction is
deeply damaging'
As 2017 draws to a close we look back at a year of diminishing budgets and record drug-related deaths....
DDN November 2017
‘It’s unsurprising that staff are feeling demotivated’
A commissioner said to me this week, ‘We need to know what the evidence is, see good practice,...
DDN October 2017
‘Learn what you can. Try to get vulnerable.’
We talk so readily about the science of addiction – dopamine receptors, the way our brains are...
DDN September 2017
‘As we celebrate recovery, let’s credit harm reduction’
As we enter ‘recovery month’ there’s no better time to reinforce harm reduction – the route...
July/August 2017
How long have we needed to hear that drug and alcohol problems are not the 'add-on'?
Problematic substance use rarely travels alone. The body of...
DDN June 2017
‘Most drug-related deaths are of people not in treatment’
By the end of this week the next government will have been chosen – and who knows,...
DDN May 2017
‘Who can offer the political leadership the sector needs?'
Hogwash and purdah – it’s election season again and where is the long-awaited drug strategy? The...
DDN April 2017
‘We need to understand the risks of Xanax and the culture behind it’
It’s never easy to weigh up the level of drug risk based...
DDN March 2017
‘One of the strongest messages was a simple one: isolation kills’
We had to make drug-related deaths the focus of this year’s conference. The room...
DDN February 2017
Welcome to our latest issue!
‘The situation requires a real shake-up in the way we engage’
‘We begin to categorise and stigmatise without even realising it,’ said...
DDN December 2016
Welcome to our latest issue...
This year has held more political turbulence than most of us can stomach. Alongside that, the ongoing onslaught on budgets...
DDN November 2016
Welcome to our latest issue...
There is an absolute moral imperative on all of us to tackle the ‘outrageous discrimination’ against people with mental health...
October 2016
It’s easy to take notice of those who shout the loudest, but where would we be without the everyday heroes who just get on...
September 2016
Research shows that Korsakoff’s syndrome can occur in many dependent drinkers, yet the condition is rarely acknowledged and understood. Glenn Barnett explains the syndrome,...
July and August 2016
‘Experiencing significant trauma in childhood considerably increases the risk of misusing drugs/and or alcohol.
'Research tells us that our early life experience programmes the brain...
June 2016
We’re all too familiar with the revolving door to prison. Now it seems that prison culture is to be reformed from the top, with...
May 2016
There was plenty of expectation around UNGASS – result of a 20- year wait for a global drug policy summit meeting – with a...
April 2016 DDN
Thirty years after his graphic harm reduction campaigns burst onto the scene, Michael Linnell’s work still has the capacity to shock. Is it the...
March DDN 2016
Our speakers at Get the Picture, our ninth service user involvement conference, underlined how engagement was everything. You can read all about the event...
February 2016
In this month's issue of DDN...
New report – new action?
Over-50s are the focus of a new report on harmful drinking, with a new report...
December 2015
In this month's issue of DDN...
What's in store?
Continuing to deliver what has worked and overcoming the deficits will become increasingly challenging over the next...
November DDN 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
‘Talk of “harm reduction” is increasingly taboo – and completely absent from government communications.’
In the latest issue of DDN,...
DDN October 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
'Why use a less desirable product when a preferable one is usually available?’
In the October DDN, Adam Winstock explores the...
DDN September 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
‘How is it that a drug with the potential to halve a patient’s risk of dying ends up killing...
DDN July/August 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
In this month's DDN, nutritionist Helen Sandwell looks at the risk of ‘pure, white and deadly’ sugar to people...
DDN June 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
'It is worth spelling out that harm reduction reduces harm.'
In this month's issue: Tracy Walker talks about reducing drug-related...
May 2015
In this month’s issue of DDN…
‘Take drug and alcohol treatment seriously.’
In this month's issue: DDN canvasses opinion from the drug and alcohol sector on what...