DDN 30 May 2005

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May 30, 2005

When you’ve got an out of control drug or alcohol user in the family, the last thing you want to do is talk about it.

You watch that person transform and lose control, and you wonder why they don’t notice what they’re losing – but you don’t want to tell friends, neighbours, the rest of the family.

Gradually they slip out of view at family gatherings, and you are left wondering if you will ever get them back before it’s too late.

If you’re lucky, someone will point you in the direction of one of the excellent family support groups around the country. The work of these services cannot be underestimated – if you are in any doubt, read a mother’s story on page 8.

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DDN 16 May 2005

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May 16, 2005

A very warm welcome to SMMGP this issue, who join our merry band of partner organisations. The ten-year-old organisation for Substance Misuse Management in General Practice has done much to put GP involvement on the map.

Ten years ago, the relationship between service users and their GP was often an uneasy one. These days SMMGP see a bright future for primary care drug treatment, and if the enthusiasm of delegates at the recent RCGP is anything to go by, there’s every reason to be optimistic. The

workshop which found a meeting of minds between GPs and service users is particularly encouraging – see page 12.

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DDN 5 May 2005

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May 5, 2005

There’s been no shortage of opinion on the rights and wrongs of drug testing in schools, and the concept of ‘sniffer dogs’ brings with it its own set of issues.

Visiting Buckinghamshire for a report on their pilot scheme (page 8), I was not at all comfortable about the thought of children being lined up and investigated by dogs that had been trained to detect drugs on them. But the pilot exercise had been very carefully planned and constructed, with opinions canvassed every step of the way with parents and pupils. Head teachers reported that the schoolchildren enjoyed having the dogs visit school – but for some of the grammar schools in leafy Buckinghamshire I suppose it’s a bit of a welcome diversion.

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DDN 18 April 2005

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April 18, 2005

The effect of drink and drugs on the children of substance misusing parents scarcely cuts across the news media’s radar, says Rosie Brocklehurst, in our cover story.

Addaction’s pilot services, sending trained family workers out on home visits, will join the network of dedicated services throughout the UK.

Addaction’s CEO, Peter Martin, is hopeful that the work could transform drug treatment in Britain but making a difference depends on a co-ordinated approach. At the moment there is a lack of national data on the scale of the problem and, as yet, no overarching co-ordinating body. Let’s get past laying bureaucratic tarmac, and onto making a real difference says Rosie. There’s no time to hang about – childhood is all too short for many.

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DDN 04 April 2005

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April 4, 2005

Going over to Chelmsford for an Essex Drug and Alcohol Service Users Conference last week, turned out to be an interesting experience.

For starters, nobody was ‘badged up’, so we didn’t know from the outset who was a service manager, who was a service user and who (heaven forbid) was from a publication. We were sat at round tables throughout the day, speakers took the floor with a microphone but no platform, and answered questions as they came up, and we were all involved in the charge for the chocolate cake at lunch.

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Diary of a heroin addict

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April 4, 2005

In the second part of his story, David Wright realises he is addicted – to heroin, to an increasingly chaotic lifestyle, and to the adrenaline rush of risking freedom for drugs. Life is all about the next fix.

DDN 21 March 2005

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March 21, 2005

‘I’m still very much in the listening phase,’ Alcohol Concern’s new(ish) chief executive Srabani Sen told me, when I interviewed her for this issue.

Talking to people in treatment services, and the service users themselves, has been a crucial part of Srabani’s induction, and has informed her strategy planning for the coming months. All very logical. So when do we stop listening?

When we’re busy, and pressured, and under- resourced and over-targeted.

The Wired team make a solid case for listening on page 8. Listening to service users’ views is surely the best way of finding out what will ring the right bells in changing patterns of behaviour and arming people with devices for coping.

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DDN 07 February 2005

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February 7, 2005

The page about health risks from our drinking epidemic seems to have dropped out of the government’s alcohol strategy, so we’ve devoted a few of our own pages, this issue.

In case we start to believe that binge drinking is only about the Saturday night lads down the pub, we’ve considered who else might make up the staggering statistics on alcohol related illness. Surprise surprise, most of us can manage to binge quite easily in our own homes, without so much as the radio on.

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DDN 24 January 2005

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January 24, 2005

Asking for opinions on cannabis a year on from reclassification was an interesting experience.

Views range from ‘why is it taking so long to legalise it..?’ to worries about the long-term health risks and concern that the law has gone too far already. Is it really dangerous? Was it reclassified to reduce paperwork?

Are we storing up a health timebomb? Is it no more dangerous than having a few drinks? Do your views differ from those represented on page 6?

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DDN 13 December 2004

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December 13, 2004

The other day I bumped into neighbours who began chatting about Christmas.

The kids would be away from home for the first time, and they were at a bit of a loose end. ‘We were thinking about working with the homeless… but then our son’s friend said he knew someone who’d tried it, and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. We’ll probably go to Paris or Wales instead.’

How amazing then, that 3,000 volunteers will be turning their backs on the easy option and heading for the Crisis Open Christmas hostels next week – at least half of them ‘regulars’, who have returned year after year to take pride in creating a ‘family’ Christmas for people who would otherwise be on the streets.

Claire Brown – Editor

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DDN 29 November 2004

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November 29, 2004

I was fortunate this week to be invited to a lecture, arranged by the National Association for the Children of Alcoholics (NACOA), which really got me thinking about the three-way relationship between child, parent and alcohol.

The highly successful journalist and broadcaster, Fergal Keane, was talking about his experiences as the child of an alcoholic father – and then as an alcoholic himself. What struck me most was how such a high profile professional could manage to stay focused on such a demanding job, while hiding his evening drinking binges from friends, colleagues and the public.

Claire Brown – Editor

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DDN 15 November 2004

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November 15, 2004

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.

Claire Brown – Editor

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DDN 1 November 2004

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November 1, 2004

Welcome to our very first issue of Drink and Drugs News! Brought to you by the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals and Wired, the magazine will give you a round-up of what’s going on, who’s saying what, and the latest issues for debate, every fortnight.

You’ll see that we’ve teamed up with the partner organisations listed on this page to bring news and features from very different perspectives. The other part of the equation, to make this magazine a successful communication tool, is you. The magazine will work best if you let us know what’s happening in your workplace and region. Let us know your experiences with clients, and practical solutions that will help other readers.

This issue we catch up with Caroline Flint at the Home Office, who shares some interesting thoughts on drugs and crime. On the professional side, we summarise FDAP’s revised code of practice, which gives some helpful advice on those less than clear work situations. But we’re not all about the official side of work. Natalie’s story (page 6) and Dave’s day in the life’ (page 12) illustrate what we’re all about: demonstrating that treatment and support services can, and most definitely do, make a real and lasting difference to people’s lives.

Claire Brown – Editor

Read the issue here as a PDF