How to get the drugs out of crime
Drugs minister Caroline Flint talks to DDN about drug and alcohol strategy…
‘Caroline Flint’s experience as MP for Don Valley leads her to the view that “a person addicted to class A drugs is a mini crime wave”. She argues that stealing and begging have become inextricably linked with feeding a drug habit, and points to the high positive drugs test rate among those arrested for acquisitive crime…
‘It was primarily to try to break the cycle between drugs and crime that led the Labour administration to develop the national drugs strategy, first published in 1998 and updated in 2002 – and which has fuelled a significant increase in funding for both treatment and prevention initiatives…
‘Flint points out that effective treatment for people with drug problems requires not only more and better services – the initial focus of the government’s approach to treatment – but also a more joined-up approach between agencies, a key element of the new Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) initiative (the renamed Criminal Justice Intervention Programme).’
A ‘new normal’
Natalie realised heroin addiction was ruining her life and began treatment, starting with a detox…
‘It was strange trying to re-establish a ‘normal’ life. I was so used to gouching out every night in my clothes that I had forgotten the process of going to bed. I was thinking one night, “well, what do you do? You must put your nighty on.” It’d been so long since I’d done that. I put my nighty on and I got in bed and I thought, “well, what do you do now? Right, people set their alarms don’t they?” So I did that. The feeling was so strange. It was also a strange feeling when I stopped using heroin and became aware again of simple things, like the taste of food, birds singing and springtime.’
World of Wired
Prof David Clark explained his grassroots initiative WIRED, which pioneered merging real world activities with a high profile web based communication system…
‘I knew that WIRED has to be involved in both virtual and real world activities, fostering a strong grass roots initiative which has long-term continuity and stability. My vision was big – very naively so – but then what we are tackling is enormous. As far as I could see there are plenty of people who want to become involved in tackling substance misuse problems but don’t know how to get involved. They need something to which they can belong and contribute.’
David Clark went on to write a brilliant series of Background Briefings giving insights into all aspects of addiction – all available in our website archive.
Making the code
Simon Shepherd, chief exec of the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals (FDAP) on launching a new code of practice for the sector…
‘Traditionally there has been a view that people with ongoing drug or alcohol problems should not work in this field. And many take the line that they should not do so for at least two years of having had a problem (the so-called ‘two-year rule’). While some practitioners felt that this made sense, many more felt it unfair and short-sighted, and we ultimately concluded that a more flexible approach was needed.’
A day in the life
Extract from a day in the life of community support worker Dave Watkins…
‘11.30. A call from my mate Larry in the cells, David was picked up again last night. Drunk and disorderly again. Out the door. In the car. Down to the cells. He’s sorry, not sure what happened, won’t happen again. Talk to Larry, another court appearance for both of us, but not today – I can take him home. The importance of networking. We’re lucky here, we all seem to sing off the same hymn sheet – agency workers, social services, probation, courts, hospitals, mental hospitals, doctors, DSS, wet houses, dry houses, local health board. If your approach is right, people generally want to help not hinder you. It’s so important to know that you’ve got back-up.’
Pace too slow on alcohol strategy
‘Alcohol campaigning has, it seems, been a little slow to get the results it needs. Tacked on to a number of major drug reports as a reference – “this could also apply to alcohol” – the needs of those who have drifted from using alcohol for regular relaxation and social confidence to desperate dependency, have been neglected. The DATs who have become DAATs may be doing their best, but it seems up to the persistent minority to remind government that targets are not set for shifting, and that a report on alcohol services due on such and such a date means that there are services looking out for a framework and a promise of commitment.’
(DDN editor’s column)
No room at the inn
Rosie Brocklehurst was frustrated at slow progress for the many affected by alcohol problems…
‘Right now there seems to be an unspoken consensus that we must wait for more evidence-based data. We must wait until hugely increased levels of alcohol-related harm, rising trends of misuse and irresponsible behaviours, deaths, child abuse, broken families, and unquantifiable levels of individual human suffering, come spilling out of the research databases and onto analysts’ graphs…
‘I try to seek comfort by periodic night-time reading of the six pages in a 95-page strategy that talks about treatment tomorrow, maybe, and live in my own little fantasy world, dreaming that perhaps a few million quid for treatment might fall off the back of a beer lorry owned by some of those nice alcohol industry people. Meanwhile, in the committee chambers and conference halls, we talk about the criminal and the victim as if they are always separate entities, and fail to set a permanent place for the end user at the policy table for fear she might slur her words.’
Culture change needed to tackle binge-drinking
‘A cultural shift is the only way to change British drinking habits, according to Dr Jane Marshall, consultant psychiatrist at the National Addictions Centre. ‘There’s a reticence to consider a link between alcohol and violence,’ she said. Doorkeepers still keep serving people who are worse for wear… We laugh at drunk people for doing crazy things.’
(News item)
Abstinence or harm reduction?
Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research at the University of Glasgow was involved in research – discussed here in his article – which the Scottish Drugs Forum (and many readers, through letters and articles) called ‘unhelpful and manipulative’…
‘In Scotland over 1,000 drug users were asked about the change in their drug use that they were seeking to bring about on the basis of having come forward for treatment. Almost 60 per cent of the drug users interviewed said that the only thing they were aiming for was to become abstinent from the drugs to which they had become addicted. Less than 10 per cent of those interviewed identified harm reduction as the sole change they were looking for. On the basis of these results, it is abstinence not harm reduction which reflects drug users aspirations from treatment. These findings have touched a raw nerve…
‘Rather than simply asserting that our harm reduction services are achieving both reduced harm and the recovery from addiction, we had better start to find out if this is the case in reality. I suspect that it is not, and that we have prioritised harm reduction at the expense of abstinence.’
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