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Home Office gives go-ahead for pilot drug-testing scheme
[…] their drugs to Addaction’s service in Weston-super-Mare for the contents to be tested. The service is completely anonymous, with staff available to discuss support options and offer harm reduction advice. The pilot project will operate in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, with additional support from drug testing service The Loop. The testing process takes […]
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. While local authorities get to grips with cutting £85m from public health spending, the ACMD warned that slashing drug treatment budgets is a ‘catalyst for disaster’. Throughout the year […]
Across the great divide
[…] organisation called Stop Watch, which was trying to change the narrative around stop and search, including tackling the ‘massive disproportionality in relation to drugs’. Maria Phelan of Harm Reduction International (HRI) widened the view to the global state of harm reduction. While there had been progress on opioid substitution therapy (OST) in Monaco, Senegal and […]
Training and Development Directory, PDF Version
[…] S k ills ( C BC S) A lc o h ol, D ru gs & H arm R ed uctio n P sy c h op harm aco lo gy & P hysio lo gy o f A ddic tio n W ork in g w it h C hild B earin g […]
Letters and Comment from DDN’s December issue
[…] Kent TN24 8SG. Letters may be edited for space or clarity. Vital challenge Kaleidoscope was one of the original drug services in England, and a pioneer of harm reduction services, campaigning against long waiting lists by providing rapid access to treatment. Over time local authorities improved the services to their own drug using population and […]
Fedotov calls for ‘evidence-based’ practices
[…] said. The nine-day event saw 11 resolutions passed on issues including protecting young people from online sales of NPS and blocking ‘financial flows’ linked to drug trafficking. Harm Reduction International (HRI), meanwhile, used the CND to launch its ‘10 by 20’ campaign, which wants to see governments redirect 10 per cent of the money they […]
Lukewarm response to gambling white paper
[…] Everyone should be able to live in an environment that is free from gamification and advertising, particularly children.’ Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Royal College of Psychiatrists ‘People who suffer harm from gambling are not weak. They are not unwell because of any so-called vulnerability. They have been sold highly addictive products, designed and promoted to keep […]
MUP having little effect on dependent and harmful drinkers
A wide-ranging study has found ‘no clear evidence’ of changing alcohol consumption patterns among people drinking at harmful levels since the introduction of MUP, according to a report from Public Health Scotland (PHS). Some ‘economically vulnerable’ groups were also spending less on essentials like food and utilities and more on alcohol, the report adds. […]
26th March issue
[…] years, Daren Garratt told the National Drug Treatment Conference last week – a statement frequently reflected in our letters pages. It was interesting then to read Sara Moralioglu’s investigation of harm reduction in North America (page 8) – a story made all the more remarkable by the scale of progress – particularly in the United States, where the climate of incarceration […]
DDN 050321
[…] two, the Healthy Options Team (HOT), is par t of East London and City Mental Health NHS Trust and employs around 12 staff to provide low threshold, harm reduction ser vices such as needle exchange. The other organisation, KCA, is a non-statutor y ser vice employing about 200 staff across Kent, Medway and par ts […]
Danish lessons
[…] in 2012. Reducing this high death rate has long been the aim of campaigning groups, including BrugerForening (Danish Drug Users Union) and Gadejuristen (Street Lawyers: slogan ‘hard-core harm reduction’). In 2004 Anders Fogh-Rasmussen’s Conservative-led government acted on its zero tolerance policy on drugs. Against police, Copenhagen City Council and others’ advice, the illegal but tolerated […]
Alcohol Change UK appoints new chair
The board of trustees at national alcohol harm reduction charity Alcohol Change UK has elected Mick Urwin as its new chair. Mick Urwin After more than two years serving on the board at Alcohol Change UK and taking a leading role in its various sub-committees, Urwin brings a wealth of understanding and experience across policing, […]
Caught in the act
[…] without a coherent path.’ Joined-up thinking Speaking of a coherent path, AAI and others have also been lobbying for the establishment of an Office for Alcohol Harm Reduction in the hope of creating that oft-cited but usually mythical thing, ‘joined-up government’ – on this issue at least. ‘We need people who have the time […]
Testing the limits
[…] illicit drugs. There must be swifter, more radical progress on drug checking if we want to reduce drug overdose deaths in the UK. Peter Furlong is national harm reduction lead at Change Grow Live; Chris Rintoul is innovation and harm reduction lead at Cranstoun; Iain ‘Buff’ Cameron is project manager, harm reduction services at Extern; […]
Scottish alcohol sales down 3 per cent since MUP
[…] it set out to do – a reduction in sales overall with a focus on the cheap high-strength alcohol, which is often drunk by people drinking at harmful levels,’ she said. ‘Further studies on MUP, including a final evaluation report, which is due next year, will examine how MUP has impacted on alcohol harms.’ […]
DDN Conference 2022 Programme
[…] exhibition ——- 2.30–5pm Session three (with tea/coffee available) PEER POWER Dynamic outreach: Medway Hope How partnership working between services and peers has delivered naloxone and other vital harm reduction interventions in the community and increased engagement with treatment services. A hand up: The Hepatitis C Trust Sharing how their peer-to-peer education (P2P) programme delivered by […]
UK rates fourth for humane drug policies worldwide
[…] 100 is a drug policy fail in anyone’s book,’ said Ann Fordham, executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium The index, which has been developed by the Harm Reduction Consortium, is made up of 75 indicators across five main themes – criminal justice, extreme responses, health and harm reduction, access to internationally controlled medicines, and […]
Humankind sets out harm reduction minimum standards
[…] provision has been launched by Humankind. The standards support compliance with existing regulation and national guidance, and are designed to ‘ensure full and equitable reach of comprehensive harm reduction services to all who use substances’ and to tackle stigma. The standards cover issues like accessibility, confidentiality, safety and pathways to other services, and are part […]
Opening the Doors
[…] February 2019, page 16), raised many questions – why don’t we take notice of the evidence to stop ‘thoroughly preventable’ drug poisoning deaths with simple and cost-effective harm reduction measures such as naloxone? Why are we still discharging from hospital onto the street? Why are care pathways so fragmented? Why aren’t we creating routes out […]
Spread the word
[…] use in their own way to influence governments, donors, policy makers, the media and the general public. Support. Don’t Punish is part of the Community Action on Harm Reduction project (www.cahrproject.org), an ambitious, four-year project which aims to expand HIV and harm reduction services to more than 180,000 people who inject drugs in China, India, […]
TrainingDir_Spring2013
[…] clu des f a m ily p atte rn s, s y ste m ic t h eo ry a n d f a m ily m eetin gs Harm r e d u ctio n : In clu des s a fe r i n je ctin gbs m okin gbd rin kin g, B BV Se […]
TrainingDir_Spring2013
[…] clu des f a m ily p atte rn s, s y ste m ic t h eo ry a n d f a m ily m eetin gs Harm r e d u ctio n : In clu des s a fe r i n je ctin gbs m okin gbd rin kin g, B BV Se […]
DDN090209
[…] not always an easy colleague as he insisted at all times in trying to view things through the service user’s spectrum. He was an unapologetic advocate of harm reduction long before the concept became acceptable. Andy’s path into drug treatment work was not a conventional one. Andy was in almost at the beginning of Birmingham […]
DDN2906
[…] from the Welsh Assembly to set up a national office for Wales. Cardiff-based Alcohol Concern Wales/Cymru will run campaigns, lobby for changes in policy, raise funds for harm reduction projects and provide consultancy and training ser vices. ‘With 1,000 people dying each year in Wales due to alcohol misuse there is a need to both […]
DDN 050321
[…] two, the Healthy Options Team (HOT), is par t of East London and City Mental Health NHS Trust and employs around 12 staff to provide low threshold, harm reduction ser vices such as needle exchange. The other organisation, KCA, is a non-statutor y ser vice employing about 200 staff across Kent, Medway and par ts […]
Rising tide
[…] added that Release were submitting a full response. The review would be looking at drug harms – an opportunity, the meeting agreed, to provide strong evidence on harm reduction that should pave the way for legalisation. Evidence would include detail and working practice – such as in Switzerland – on heroin assisted treatment (HAT) and […]
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 to recovery, and the reason it’s sustainable. What works for one person won’t work for another and we need to open every door to better health. At a recent parliamentary group […]
Public health body backs festival drug testing
[…] has called for music festivals to provide drug safety testing facilities ‘as standard’, as the summer festival season gets underway. The organisation also wants to see the harm reduction measure implemented in city nightlife areas. The call follows concerns about increasing purity levels of club drugs, with tests ‘repeatedly’ reporting ecstasy pills containing 150g and […]
Damp Squib?
[…] Drug Policy, serves merely to sustain an ‘unacceptable and outdated legal status quo’. The document has been attacked for its failure to address capital punishment, sufficiently advocate harm reduction approaches or acknowledge the ongoing process of drug policy reform occurring across the world. It also talks about ‘a society free of drug abuse’, something that […]
Local news from the substance misuse field
Festival-goers offered harm reduction advice Swanswell team members were on hand to provide drug and alcohol advice at the Download Festival in Leicestershire last month. Working with North West Leicestershire District Council’s community safety team, the Swanswell staff offered harm reduction information and were available to answer questions about drug and alcohol use to anyone […]
Funding certainty vital to achieving drug strategy ambitions, says PAC
[…] PAC is disappointed that government departments seem unwilling to explore how to provide local authorities with more confidence over long-term funding,’ it states. Efforts to reduce drug-related harm were seeing ‘mixed’ progress, according to the committee. The report welcomes the achievement in recruitment so far, with more than 1,200 new drug and alcohol workers […]
The main man
[…] while the left think we’ve got a failed war on drugs that will be solved by decriminalisation or legalisation, and the right think we’ve got a wrong-headed harm reduction-led policy when we ought to have abstinence – the only thing they can agree on is that we’re going to hell in a handcart. Which is […]
Letters
[…] People put themselves at risk to demand better services. Knowing a little about the oppression in some European countries, I was truly humbled by the user and harm reduction groups working in those countries. Misbehaving and fighting for their rights can easily lead to them ending up in prison. Then came the Action Summit on […]
Harm Reduction Senior Practitioner
Excited to lead change? Join our thriving team in Harrow as a Harm Reduction Senior Practitioner and drive impactful health initiatives across the borough! This is an exciting opportunity to join a thriving service and help build an ever larger network of partnerships to highlight harm reduction and health promotion across the borough. You will […]
Use taxes to encourage switch to safer nicotine products, governments urged
[…] their tax systems to encourage smokers to switch to using safer nicotine products instead of cigarettes, says a new briefing paper from the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) project. Taxation has long been seen by tobacco control groups as one of the most effective tools for controlling the use of cigarettes, says Safer […]
UN drug statement ‘an embarrassment’, say harm reduction groups
The joint ministerial statement issued at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna represents a capitulation to hardline states, according to Harm Reduction International (HRI) and the STOPAIDS network of organisations. Governments from around the world were represented at the commission, which aimed to find ways forward in addressing world drug problems. […]
International aid money being spent on punitive drug control, says HRI report
Almost $1bn from aid budgets intended to help end poverty was spent on the global ‘war on drugs’ over the last decade, according to a report by Harm Reduction International (HRI). The report is calling for governments and donors to divest from ‘punitive and prohibitionist drug control regimes’ and instead invest in evidence-based programmes such […]
TRAINING DIR DDN 1113
[…] t o i m pro ve p eo p le ’s l iv e s t h ro u gh r e d u cin g t h e harm c a u se d b y a lc o h ol. S in ce 2 000 A lc o h ol C on ce rn h as d eliv e […]
Countdown to Elimination
[…] about how we might access them,’ agreed consultant epidemiologist and head of hepatitis C and BBVs at UKHSA, Dr Monica Desai. While there was new focus on harm reduction through the drug strategy, it was also crucial to make sure that investment continued and ‘we monitor needle and syringe provision to fully understand what coverage […]
Doorstep Challenge
[…] obstacles and a way forward for making SIFs a reality. ‘Not only do they save lives, they help people to improve their injecting technique, access treatment and harm reduction services, and address other vulnerabilities in their lives,’ he said. Niamh Eastwood, executive director of Release looked at whether a SIF could be legal. With the […]
DDN190606
[…] of a crystal meth epidemic would be ‘without foundation and alarmist’. Sebastian Saville, director of Release, attacked the ‘over hasty official response’ as unhelpful when working towards harm reduction. (See DDN letters, page 10) Welsh events in July for user support A new peer support group is opening in Newport, Gwent – the first of […]
DDN220908
[…] talking about ‘refusal skills’ or situations where they feel uncomfortable, and it might involve discussing how to avoid things happening in future. But they also offer basic harm reduction advice; ‘so if someone’s saying I’m going out at the weekend and thinking of taking this or this , we would then have quite a detailed […]
July issue 2013
In this month’s issue of DDN… ‘It’s very strange to sit in a harm reduction conference and realise that the last needle exchange programme in Romania will close this year. We in harm reduction will increasingly be at the cold intersection of austerity and social exclusion.’ The July issue reports from the International Harm Reduction Conference […]
IHRA Daily Updates
Harm Reduction International is a leading non-governmental organisation working to promote and expand support for harm reduction. Their annual international conferences are a key event for all those interested in harm reduction around the world. In order to keep delegates up-to-date with the latest developments and announcements during the events and to provide a record […]
Soapbox
[…] a regular user will spend around £15 a week. Intuitively a device that delivers nicotine without the carcinogenic chemicals in cigarette tar and smoke looks like a harm reduction winner for heavy tobacco smokers. If no major risks are identified from vaping, then eventually we may have a product which, when set in a CBT-type […]
Soapbox
[…] us on pharmacotherapies cannot live ‘meaningful lives’ is an insult to the many tens of thousands of us who are on long-term maintenance scripts, who are accessing harm reduction services, and are, at the same time, succeeding professionally and personally. Equally this agenda does nothing to give confidence to those who rely on them that […]
May issue
Learning curve Lessons from global harm reduction AFTER A TURBULENT FEW WEEKS the election is finally over, with a hung parliament a certainty as we go to press. What will happen next in terms of configuring government is still anybody’s guess – and has been, during the hours of tv coverage through the night. All we know is […]
Harm reduction in Belfast
[…] John Moores University chaired the event, introducing the keynote speaker, Professor Carl Hart of Columbia University, NYC. Carl’s impassioned presentation outlined the moral case for a baseline harm reduction response for people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in the city centre, with a drug consumption facility (DCR) in an area where drugs are already bought and […]
Benefits of therapeutic communities
[…] time window either, he states, with opioid-replacement therapy appearing affordable over the period of a year, but less so over ten. One early ‘fundamental error’ of the harm reduction community was its failure to recognise, or effectively promote, the fact that it’s ‘actually about two things’, he says – reducing the harm that people do […]
In mind and body
[…] that providing attractive alternatives to drugs is ‘a big job’, there is a way people can change the narrative and reduce the harm. He sees decriminalisation and harm reduction as vital. Meanwhile drug users need to ‘get out of the closet and admit their use’, as President Obama has done, in order to normalise the […]
Getting real
[…] ketamine use reinforces the importance of a client-centred, empathic approach that responds to ketamine users by offering chances to explore risk reduction, self-control or cessation. The key harm reduction messages for active ketamine users revolve around dose management and hydration. Understanding how to dose, avoiding dose stacking and learning to take breaks between using sessions […]
Harm reduction-based taskforce to look at student drug use
[…] student drug use has been launched by Universities UK (UUK) in partnership with Unite Students, GuildHE and Independent HE. The taskforce will make recommendations ‘firmly based on harm reduction’ and have student ‘safety and health at its heart’, it says, and will be advised by Professor Dame Carol Black alongside ACMD chair Professor Owen Bowden-Jones […]
Parties set out drug and alcohol manifesto pledges
[…] Labour government would establish a Royal Commission to ‘develop a public health approach to substance misuse’, says its manifesto, It’s time for real change. This would focus on harm reduction rather than criminalisation, the document states. A Labour government would establish a Royal Commission to ‘develop a public health approach to substance misuse’ The party would […]
Government reverses controversial FOBT delay
[…] for me to be able to justify or even explain the delay.’ The decision to abandon the delay would ‘affect many lives for the better and reduce harm on our high streets’, she added. ‘There are many more gambling issues that need to be dealt with including online harm, advertising and the poor standards […]
Economic burden of alcohol could be almost 3 per cent of GDP, says PHE
Combining minimum unit pricing (MUP) with increased alcohol taxation would lead to both ‘substantial’ reductions in alcohol-related harm and increases in government revenue, according to a wide-ranging review by Public Health England (PHE). Plans to introduce MUP were shelved by the coalition government on the grounds that there was not enough ‘concrete evidence’ to […]
Over the threshold
[…] designed to be flexible, immediate and to build trust,’ said Morales. ‘It’s not just about work – it’s a holistic programme.’ SIMPLE STEPS TAPAJ firmly adopted a harm-reduction approach, he stated, with no requirement for participants to ‘stop their substance use or change their life.’ The programme had ‘three simple steps’, he explained. The […]
The age of overwhelm
[…] member of Students for Sensible Drugs Policy) highlighted a zero tolerance approach and lack of knowledge in many universities. But there were barriers to universities having a harm reduction focus, she said – including misunderstanding of drugs laws – and there were obvious opportunities for interventions and initiatives that were being ignored. Greater trust between […]
DDN conference 2024: session one
[…] people receiving naloxone it was their first kit, and almost half were not in treatment at all. ‘These are the people we need to be getting the harm reduction messages about nitazenes to.’ A fifth had even refused naloxone, she added. ‘I don’t know why that is, but maybe it’s because of who offered it. […]
Harm reduction flyers on nitazenes
Release, alongside EuroNPUD and other drug treatment service colleagues in the UK, have produced harm reduction advice on nitazenes. There has been an increase of nitazenes detected across the UK drug supply. These substances are a class of synthetic opioids that are believed to be as strong (or stronger) than fentanyl. The 2022 Afghan ban […]
Festive Fears
[…] time. Every year, in the two weeks leading up to Christmas we attend reception daily and see everyone who is being released. We talk to them about harm reduction and how to keep themselves safe if they do end up using drugs or alcohol. We also hold a daily drop-in service on wings, which gives […]