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Met should routinely carry naloxone, says London Assembly Health Committee
London’s mayor should work with the Metropolitan Police to ensure that its officers routinely carry naloxone spray, according to a new harm reduction report from the London Assembly Health Committee. The committee also want to see consumption rooms piloted in London Police Scotland recently announced that it was rolling out its pilot naloxone programme across […]
Into the matrix
[…] to 1975. With the groundwork already done, this ambitious superstructure could be constructed. Understanding the matrices In May 2013, the result was the Matrices – one for harm reduction and treatment of problems related to the use of illegal drugs (http://bit.ly/1ca1bA3), and one for brief interventions and treatment of alcohol-related problems (http://bit.ly/12aGdQd). The best way […]
Soapbox
[…] and about how far it extends, given the complex and multiple needs of many young people who inject drugs. Children and young people are often hidden within harm reduction services due to age restrictions and fears around asking and documenting age. In some countries, legal systems criminalise children as young as eight for drug use […]
Drug deaths in England and Wales up again
[…] highest levels of drug related deaths linked to drug dependency. Investment in these communities, adequate housing, restoring benefits to a decent level, along with drug policy and harm reduction initiatives can save lives. Niamh Eastwood, executive director, Release Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2020 registrations at www.ons.gov.uk Drug Related Deaths […]
With You launches needle exchange search engine
[…] services Accessible via the organisation’s website, the tool provides full details of local NSPs sorted by postcode. The charity has also released a new series of online harm reduction advice, including on safer injecting, responding to an overdose, using naloxone correctly, and safer use of other drugs such powder and crack cocaine and steroids. It […]
We need to talk about pleasure
[…] one’s own recovery it might be time to find another narrative. Our negative attitude to pleasure can even be seen to limit the effectiveness of what little harm reduction we practise. The work of Magdalena Harris, associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine and a leading researcher, suggests that the most […]
Aiming High
[…] not seeing friends at school and being at home constantly. He is classified as high risk as he self-harms regularly and feels he can’t disclose his self- harm experiences to other professionals. He now looks forward to the increased telephone and video calls from his worker that are helping him to manage his self-harming […]
DDN July/August 2020
[…] issue, p9), we have an insight into domestic abuse support (p12), while Kevin Flemen looks out for young people in the summer party season with some targeted harm reduction advice (p9). As Bill Nelles (p14) would be the first to remind us, harm reduction must stay top of the agenda so we’re pleased to see […]
Your letters
[…] them to the address on page 3. Letters may be edited for space or clarity – please limit submissions to 350 words. Citric question As a harm reduction worker at the Cairn Centre, the main needle exchange in the centre of Dundee, I wondered if any of your readers could answer a question. We […]
News Focus
[…] the greatest challenges, however, was identifying parental alcohol misuse, she stressed. ‘Many families are dealing with alcohol use that the user doesn’t think is a problem.’ Hidden Harm While parental substance use was often linked with mental health issues, poverty and domestic violence, and was a key factor in children being taken into care, […]
Frontline reporting
[…] There is, and always has been, a war on drug users’ had been adopted by activists across the world. Even Margaret Thatcher had seen the value in harm reduction, she stressed, ‘although obviously not for our sakes. But since then we’ve basically gone round and round in circles, in a roughly ten-year cycle. So what […]
In the Picture
[…] as contracting COVID. There had been impressive collaboration within the sector, and some innovative developments including trialling a ‘click and collect’ model for needles and other essential harm reduction equipment. But there was also an increase in mental health issues from the boredom, loneliness and a situation that ‘has been really tough for everybody’. ‘We’ve […]
Gender imbalance
[…] Overall, very few clients (about 1 per cent) report concerns about having symptoms of coronavirus. Interestingly, only a similarly small amount reported problems accessing medicines, healthcare or harm-reduction supplies – however this finding is unlikely to be representative of all people who use drugs or have problems with alcohol, as the monitoring is being […]
Heroin Assisted Treatment – A helping hand
[…] The new wave of heroin use in the ’80s spread throughout Europe, accompanied by the spread of HIV and AIDS. While Britain was an early adopter of harm-reduction measures including needle exchange, oral methadone was established as the main form of maintenance prescribing. Approaches in other countries Switzerland tried a different approach to harm reduction, […]
DDN 2020 Programme
[…] groups by sharing their own experiences of hepatitis C and treatment, peers integrate messages that raise awareness, reduce stigma, inform people of transmission routes and treatments, support harm reduction interventions to active users and provide support and direct to hepatitis C treatment. 12.30pm – 1.10pm Tackling the ‘us and them’ How can we use […]
What’s in a name?
[…] to consider which psychosocial interventions we are using and how effective they are. Using previous NDTMS data sets may have yielded information on very important aspects of harm reduction – such as offer and acceptance of BBV vaccinations or prevalence of injecting – but what has been missing is the ability to record the psychosocial […]
DDN2june10
[…] effective, contains a number of significant flaws and is unlikely to produce robust results. If implemented, we believe the pilot runs a high risk of causing significant harm’ – including moving drug users away from treatment, disengaging them from the welfare to work system and damaging relationships between advisers and claimants. ‘Under the current […]
DDNoct11
[…] . b It is, of course, quite hard to get accurate statistics on the use of illegal drugs, since even people who aren’t the chancellor of the exchequer tend, when they’re asked about it, to be a bit coy… Drugs, like stories about Tory politicians and dominatrixes, will always be with us. If we can’t get rid of them, we can find ways to reduce their harm. Only a masochistic society wouldn’t. Christina Patterson, The Independent, 14 September We are always told that the authorities have given up on cannabis so that they can be ‘freed up’ to pursue other drugs, allegedly worse, and the ‘evil dealers’ who sell them. Since cannabis can unpredictably […]
DDN May 2019
[…] Lana Durjava’s words in this month’s cover story (page 6); yet according to Mike Trace (page 8), ‘too many people in the sector still see the abstinence/ harm reduction issue in binary terms’. We have failed to achieve a balance between healthcare provision and recovery pathways, he argues. Is this your experience? One certainty is […]
Beyond the gate
[…] director, Mike Pattinson. ‘We have been taking this approach in our prison-based services for some time and shall continue to do so as part of our overall harm reduction plan.’ For Forward Trust, whose substance misuse work spans 18 prisons, ‘a more organised and structured approach to promoting naloxone’, began at HMP Lewes. By having […]
Giving the best chance
[…] up or down’. It was important to keep the perspective of delivering PSI as part of an integrated service that included opioid substitution treatment (OST) and other harm reduction initiatives, said Mitcheson. ‘Some recovery services don’t understand harm reduction, and that’s a problem.’ Another major challenge was the ever-changing drugs market – how was the […]
Signposting the way to elimination by 2025
[…] work with the Drugs, Alcohol and Justice Cross Party Parliamentary Group to push for research into the safety and effi cacy of needle ex- changes and other harm reduction measures to make a case for their role in reducing transmission. This could be done in conjunction with the National Institute for Health Research. Coalition members […]
Bang for your buck
[…] about Addaction’s approach to working in jails in Lincolnshire. On reception, every prisoner was offered a chemical assessment, then seen again the next morning and offered specific harm reduction advice relating to the drugs most commonly reported in the prison. Scherdel said that NPS users were less likely to engage than traditional drug users, but […]
Crack Cocaine – Cracks in the mirror
[…] the issue locally. As this nascent crack using population aren’t currently injecting or heroin-using, they won’t automatically have contact with drug services via, for example, needle exchange. Harm reduction interventions, including resources to address the needs of crack smokers, polydrug users (including crack and alcohol, use of opiates or benzos as comedown drugs) and crack […]
Media Savvy
[…] crime. It slashed heroin abuse after decriminalising drugs. British politicians are acting with criminal incompetence as other countries start to end this stupid war and focus on harm reduction. Ian Birrell, Times, 18 April ————— There are drug injection facilities in almost 70 cities around the world, but not one in the UK. That is […]
Government slashes maximum stake for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals
[…] Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) is to be cut from £100 to £2, the government has announced. The move is intended to ‘reduce the risk of gambling-related harm’. MPs and campaigners have been calling for a reduction in the maximum permitted stake for years (DDN, September 2014, page 6), with the controversial terminals frequently […]
Record number of drug-related mental health admissions
[…] highest admission rates for a primary diagnosis of poisoning by illicit drugs were also found in the 25 to 34 age range, the report states. Karen Tyrell: Harm reduction must be taken seriously ‘People with both mental health and substance misuse issues can find it extremely difficult to access mental health services,’ said Addaction spokesperson […]
Alcohol strategy is ripe for refreshment
[…] communities needed to be able to get involved in licencing decisions more easily; and alcohol labelling should be revised to include ingredients, calories and information about health harm. Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, took up the issue of MUP. Scotland intended to implement minimum unit pricing imminently she said, adding ‘it […]
The Heart of the Matter
[…] or how assiduously they abide by the clinical guidelines. ******* ALCOHOL ******* Only one person in six who needs alcohol treatment is able to access it. Alcohol harm is concentrated in our poorest communities, with 30 per cent of all alcohol consumed by 4 per cent of the population. The health damage, the societal […]
Media language enabling discrimination, says Global Commission
[…] consistent information, the report urges, while ‘opinion leaders’ in the media should promote the use of non-stigmatising language. Healthcare professionals also need to be vocal in promoting harm reduction and evidence-based interventions, while law enforcement should ‘stop acts of harassment based on negative perceptions of people who use drugs’. Michel Kazatchkine: ‘langage matters’ ‘“Addiction” remains […]
Commissioning is risking lives, say GPs
[…] to a cheaper bidder, with quality of care sacrificed in the race to slash budgets. Dr Stephen Willott: ‘The government’s drug strategy has long moved away from harm reduction, OST and choices.’ ‘There were over 3,700 drug-related deaths registered in 2016 in England and Wales – a 44 per cent increase on 2012 figures,’ said […]
There’s something in the heroin
[…] that clients believed the heroin was being cut with fentanyl or Xanax (a benzodiazepine) and witnessed people ‘going over’ (overdosing) as a result. In addition, pharmacists undertaking harm reduction training in East Riding reported users describing a change in how the heroin felt – that they were getting a quick strong hit. Benzodiazepines would be […]
More questions than answers
[…] evidence appears to be irrelevant and celebrities determined to persuade others that what has helped them is right for everyone – has promoted an anti-treatment, abstinence-only narrative. Harm reduction has been side-lined in some areas and this has had consequences. While it would be simplistic to blame the rise in drug deaths on recovery (the […]
Power of ten
[…] the gaps.’ More cuts would inevitably be on the way, she stressed, with funding for treatment likely to reduce by 30 per cent by 2021. ‘We’ve lost harm reduction services. I’m very supportive of the recovery agenda, but we need harm reduction as well.’ The ACMD had told the government that it needed to do […]
Safe Corner
[…] accord’ between police and other stakeholders, the proposal failed the test of feasibility. Resistance was attributed partly to a ‘shift in focus for substance misuse services from harm reduction to recovery a greater emphasis on abstinence’. It was unclear whether stakeholders were themselves aligned with the values of abstinence-based recovery, or whether the policy and […]
Making choice real
[…] to help reduce or end illicit ‘problem’ drug use. But there’s an unhelpful polarity that exists between interventions targeting immediate abstinence, and substitution treatments promoting stabilisation and harm reduction. The use of OST has for a long time been challenged politically and through mainstream media. This cultural opposition, despite a strong evidence base for harm […]
Review of the year
[…] world needs drug policies that ‘put people first’. The event’s outcome document, however, receives a decidedly lukewarm response – despite some welcome language on human rights and harm reduction, the need for consensus renders it ‘watered down’ and ‘generally a huge disappointment’, Transform’s Steve Rolles tells DDN. The seemingly unstoppable flow of new psychoactive substances […]
Glasgow considers case for UK’s first consumption room
[…] established by the local alcohol and drug partnership (ADP) (DDN, July/August, page 4). This would help maximise engagement with the target population and increase ‘the potential for harm reduction’, the group said. The working group reviewed how existing consumption room services operated in places like Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as considering feedback from […]
Media Savvy: the news, and the skews, in the national media
[…] broad daylight’ just yards from a PRIMARY SCHOOL Mail headline, 25 October The lessons of a failing national policy need to be learnt. The approach of harm reduction was born – under a Conservative government – in response to the threat of HIV. It saved countless lives. When focus shifted away from harm reduction, […]
Choose life – Recovery Month and Overdose Awareness
[…] recalled the successful deployment of naloxone across the West Midlands during his time as Public Health England regional manager, and challenged the North West, ‘the home of harm reduction’, to step up and take action in relation to drug-related deaths. Finally, a public awareness event was held in the centre of Manchester. Undeterred by lashing […]
Reasons to be cheerful
[…] the cumulative consequences of austerity. This presents twin challenges to the sector. Firstly we have to find a new narrative, as persuasive to local authorities as previous harm reduction and crime led narratives have been to central government. This needs to be a shared endeavour across the sector, service users and our allies in Whitehall. […]
January issue 2012
[…] revolve around the criminal justice system until he finally got the right treatment in prison for his mental health problems. He tells his story. A DUTCH MASTER Harm Reduction International chair John-Peter Kools has been at the forefront of harm reduction work for almost 30 years, operating across Europe and beyond. He talks to David […]
Dark days review of the year 2015
[…] work’ and ASH tells DDN that the Welsh government’s plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places amounts to a misguided attack on an effective harm reduction tool, although the claim in a PHE report that the devices are 95 per cent less harmful than smoking tobacco proves divisive. SEPTEMBER More grim news […]
Public health focus for drugs and alcohol?
[…] health approach to substance issues, or is the switch to Public Health England nothing more than a change of name? ‘I am optimistic,’ says Gerry Stimson, former Harm Reduction International (HRI) executive director and now programme director for City health 2012, a conference organised by the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum (LDAPF) to be […]
Recovery and drug treatment
[…] In the aftermath of the general election we noticed something peculiar. There seemed to be a political, ontological divide between two tribes – those affiliated with the harm reduction model, and those affiliated with the recovery model. It didn’t seem to matter whether the person expressing the view worked in the field, or was in […]
Competent compassion in services
[…] years, but unfortunately, as the pendulum swings from one side of treatment fashion to the other, it has become all about ‘recovery’ (often requiring abstinence) rather then harm reduction. This hotly contested debate misses the point. When someone is in need of help, there must be a full range of interventions available to them. It […]
Vital connections
[…] along the same lines.’ One of the battles to which Alexander referred was the ongoing tension between those who wholeheartedly believed in abstinence and those dedicated to harm reduction. He warned that it was important not to become embroiled in such tensions and urged both sides to work together as part of the same movement. […]
Nitazenes detected in 25 Scottish drug deaths
[…] needed to address the escalating drug crisis in the UK (Partner Updates, September 2023): Release, alongside EuroNPUD and other drug treatment service colleagues in the UK, have produced harm reduction advice on nitazenes. (News, January 2023): Fentanyl behind 80% increase in New York’s overdose deaths Search the DDN archive for more on nitazenes, fentanyl and synthetic opioids. […]
Afghan opium cultivation drops by 95 per cent
[…] needed to address the escalating drug crisis in the UK (Partner Updates, September 2023): Release, alongside EuroNPUD and other drug treatment service colleagues in the UK, have produced harm reduction advice on nitazenes. (News, January 2023): Fentanyl behind 80% increase in New York’s overdose deaths Search the DDN archive for more on opium production, nitazenes, fentanyl and […]
Rising levels of violence associated with county lines activity
[…] and their severity’. One respondent described an increase in the number of males under 21 attending A&E after being raped, while others also noted increases in self- harm and suicide attempts among children and young people admitted to hospital. The report, which looks at the impact of COVID-19 on county lines activities, says more […]
Alcohol focus for new NHS plan
[…] Alcohol-related hospital admissions have increased by 17 per cent over the course of a decade, to 337,000 in 2016-17. NHS England estimates the annual cost of alcohol-related harm at £3.5bn. The initiative is part of a major focus on prevention in the new NHS plan, alongside support for patients who smoke and action on […]
Heavy drinking set to cost NHS £17bn over next five years
[…] hepatitis testing and diagnosis in the community with a focus on ‘groups at greatest risk and/or not in regular contact with health services’, as well as protection for harm reduction services. The impact of liver disease on the poorest in society is ‘disproportionally severe’, the document states, and contributes to the ‘widening of socioeconomic health inequalities […]
Vital care
[…] outcome; improve patient experience and demonstrate cost effectiveness. The main reason for presentation at A&E was withdrawal (eg seizure), with mental health issues, including suicidal ideation, self- harm or depression, also prominent. Many patients had three or more admissions to A&E within the preceding six months and a minority were in contact with a […]
‘New pledges’ announced as part of alcohol deal
[…] health white paper (DDN, 6 December 2010, page 4). Controversial from the start, it was branded ‘the worst possible deal for everyone who wants to see alcohol harm reduced’ by Alcohol Concern (DDN, April 2011, page 4), with the charity refusing to sign up – along with the Royal College of Physicians, the British […]
News in brief
[…] programme for Wales. ‘The “Have a Word” training has enabled over 6,000 people in Wales to identify hazardous and harmful drinkers and provide advice to reduce alcohol-related harm,’ said the Kaleidoscope Project’s alcohol service team leader and training coordinator, Tom Damsell. ‘By working in collaboration with Public Health Wales to deliver the training and […]
Time to change direction on drugs
[…] document includes a call from five Nobel Prize economists for resources to be redirected towards ‘effective, evidence-based policies underpinned by rigorous economic analysis.’ Proven public health and harm reduction policies should be prioritised, it says, with states allowed to pursue new initiatives to determine what works and ‘rigorously monitored’ policy and regulatory experiments encouraged. The […]
Time to change direction on drugs policy, say economists
[…] document includes a call from five Nobel Prize economists for resources to be redirected towards ‘effective, evidence-based policies underpinned by rigorous economic analysis’. Proven public health and harm reduction policies should be prioritised, it says, with states allowed to pursue new initiatives to determine what works and ‘rigorously monitored’ policy and regulatory experiments encouraged. The […]