How much has changed over two decades?
Twenty years ago I was sitting in our little office in London, typing my first editorial (p20). ‘This issue we catch up with Caroline Flint at the Home Office, who shares some interesting thoughts on drugs and crime…’ Remarkable that back then you could speak with the drugs minister directly! We were the new kids on the block. Now we’ve been round the block a few times… but some things have changed very little. We still need a robust (and honest) alcohol strategy. We still talk about harm reduction as if it’s optional. We still rediscover a link between substance use and mental health. We’re still finding that releasing people from prison without all-round life support is leaving them to sink. And did we actually leave the old harm reduction v abstinence debate behind – or just go via recovery to change the language?
Other things changed a lot. Vaping was emerging as a novelty but the idea that it could overtake smoking (p6) was outlandish. Feedback often came by letter and we eagerly anticipated the mail every day (I still miss that!). The frequent in-person events were regular opportunities to connect. Technology made it easier to do our jobs – and harder to disappear. It would be nice to think we could take the best of both worlds.
Read the November issue as an online magazine (you can also download it as a PDF from the online magazine)
Claire Brown, editor