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Review of the year – 2023
[…] of drug-free wings in prisons doubles to 45, with up to 100 special blocks planned by 2025, and DDN is devastated to hear of the death of harm reduction activist and long-time DDN conference team member Si Parry. MARCH The government announces that it intends to ban nitrous oxide, despite the ACMD advising that the […]
Ground Support
There is increasing recognition of the impact of moral injury – the psychological harm caused by experiences that violate someone’s moral or ethical code. Those affected by it need appropriate and effective treatment, say Amanda Bonson, Gavin Campbell and Dominic Murphy. The concept of PTSD arising from traumatic experiences is widely understood. Accidents, conflict […]
Pride and Prejudice
[…] still be many hurdles to overcome, but pressure was building on commissioners, clinicians, treatment services and prisons to take naloxone seriously and to incorporate it as essential harm reduction. You Need To Get Angry By 2014 Scotland, Wales and Ireland each had national programmes of naloxone distribution in place, but in England it had been […]
DDN Conference 2023 on the day
[…] and thrive. 11.20–11.40pm Tea, coffee and refreshments Exhibition Hall 11.40–1.00pm Session two, Conference Hall PARTNERSHIP WORKING Peer power – a story of co-production Cranstoun’s team share their dynamic harm reduction initiatives. Alistair Bryant describes the PACKs peer team’s naloxone distribution and Luke O’Neil explains how they used innovative tech to create BuddyUp. From policy to practice […]
PTBath Primary-Care-Worker-JD-PS 15 hours
[…] effectively engage/re-engage and retain service users, prevent drop-out and maximise successful treatment completions To be responsible for providing Needle and Syringe Provision, the supply of naloxone and harm reduction information and advice To support and promote ‘visible recovery’ within the service including a focus on appropriate planned exits from service at all stages of the […]
Bath Primary-Care-Worker-JD-PS 37.5 Hours
[…] effectively engage/re-engage and retain service users, prevent drop-out and maximise successful treatment completions To be responsible for providing Needle and Syringe Provision, the supply of naloxone and harm reduction information and advice To support and promote ‘visible recovery’ within the service including a focus on appropriate planned exits from service at all stages of the […]
Unstoppable force
[…] initial brief was simple – design a message and some visuals that a handful of country partners from the Dutch government-funded PITCH Project could use to promote harm reduction and decriminalisation. On 26 June 2013, we were blown away when we learned about campaign activities happening in 41 cities and 22 countries around the world, […]
Visible Recovery
[…] different for everyone and I wouldn’t try to prescribe my own routes to anyone else, but I think you’ve got to have a balance of abstinence and harm reduction. I think it’s got to be understanding this is an illness, and trying to provide the right support to the person so that it’s person-centred.’ Having […]
We need to talk about… Attitudes
[…] people’s opinions on drug prohibition, asks Nick Goldstein. Nick Goldstein is a service user Just when you thought it was safe to read DDN again… I’m back! Harm reduction is as much a chronic relapsing condition as addiction, and after being hopelessly involved in harm reduction for far too long I’d decided I deserved a […]
Change Grow Live welcomes long-term Drug Strategy that signals a new era for treatment
[…] new approach to treatment in the 10-year Drug Strategy: ‘We welcome the major step forward that this strategy signals for the long-term future of drug treatment and harm reduction. We back the strategy’s acknowledgment that addiction must be treated as a chronic health condition. This is a significant breakthrough for drug treatment and a critical […]
First safe injection facilities in US open in New York
[…] in the country. The facilities will be in two sites in East Harlem and Washington Heights The ‘overdose prevention centers’ are an extension of the city’s existing harm reduction services and will be co-located with established NSPs. The US has been in the midst of an opiate overdose crisis since the turn of the millennium, […]
Gold standard
[…] access to menstrual and contraceptive products, the provision of onsite hepatitis C testing and pathways to treatment, and connections to peer support groups. Humankind also recognises that harm reduction principles should be a thread that runs through all our service provision. To support the process we are recruiting a national harm reduction lead who will […]
The Government must follow the evidence if they are to save lives, says Release
[…] in these deaths. We will no doubt see these rates continue to rise if we do not adopt policy reform and invest in overdose prevention sites and harm reduction and treatment, and review the law to end criminal sanctions for possession offences.” It continues to be deaths related to opiates that are driving the figures, […]
Make it stick
[…] found that the number of rough sleepers with a drug problem had increased from 50 per cent to 60 per cent in just four years. It’s about Harm Reduction ‘Getting out as much naloxone as possible to people who don’t necessarily engage with standard services is really important,’ says Megan Nash, team leader for WDP’s […]
Scottish alcohol consumption falls to lowest level ever
[…] represents the lowest rate since 2012, again it is those in the most-deprived areas that are more likely to be hospitalised or die because of an alcohol-related harm,’ she said. ‘Like all harm caused by alcohol, this is preventable.’ ‘We’re really pleased to see that as a nation we are drinking less for the […]
Careers
[…] Dame Carol Black’s Independent review of drugs and the subsequent government drug strategy which launched in December 2021 came with significant investment – £530m for treatment and harm reduction, £68m for housing support, £21m support for employment and £129m for continuity of care for those leaving the criminal justice system – all to be released strategically […]
Drug checking services have long-term influence on behaviour
[…] drug checking services at festivals can permanently influence behaviour, according to a new study by the University of Liverpool. The Loop provides drug safety testing, welfare and harm reduction services at nightclubs, festivals and other leisure events. The study looked at almost 1,500 face-to-face brief interventions from three music festivals in England in 2017 before […]
August issue 2013
In this month’s issue of DDN… ‘It is a project that is consistent with the practice and principles of harm reduction, and its street-based focus provides culturally relevant opportunities for interaction and communication…’ This August issue, read about The Ana Liffey Project’s innovative harm reduction response to street-based injecting drug use in Dublin. Click on […]
Homepage Features Tab
[…] the Psychoactive Substances Act has been marked by controversy. Kit Caless shares debate from Addaction’s recent conference A smack in the eye — Michael Linnell’s graphic harm reduction campaigns Thirty years after Michael Linnell’s first graphic harm reduction campaigns burst onto the scene he recalls the outrage – and the results – that spurred him on […]
Debate
[…] – but not an explosion of use. It’s been endorsed by a surprising array of organisations including the Red Cross – not marginal groups. Criminalisation creates key harms. It pushes use into unhygienic high-risk environments. It leads to people who use drugs ending up in prison. It’s unethical from a public health perspective – […]
Soapbox
[…] quantity The drink debate has become stuck on quantity. Why can’t we acknowledge that booze is a part of our lives and have an intelligent discussion about harm reduction, asks Andy Stonard Drinking alcohol in Britain has again become a perilous pastime. There have been periods in history when the people have drunk more – much […]
Psychoactive challenge
[…] less well is general drugs education literature. Saying, for example, that ‘6-APB is similar to ecstasy’ is something of a double-edged sword. While it could inform useful harm reduction, it also runs the risk of popularising and effectively advertising a new drug. 6. Keep sight of skill sets One of the key benefits of […]
DDN0903
[…] or other similar promotions are not helping and should be discouraged.â News in Brief Needle exchanges save lives andmoney www.drinkanddrugsnews.com Needle exchange programmesare not only a prime harm reduction tool, they are also an extremely cost effective use of NHS resources, according to new guidance from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). […]
Coronavirus advice
[…] and drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Link. Release: Downloadable ‘essential journey cards’ to use if people need to leave the house to pick up medication or harm reduction equipment, and other resources. Also surveying the impact of the criss on the drugs market. Link. Red Rose Recovery: View and take part in discussions in […]
The last word
[…] While there is much that can be improved about drug policies, we should not lose sight of the fact that the UK does some things very well. Harm-reduction policies, like needle and syringe exchanges, have saved many lives and kept blood-borne diseases like HIV at an internationally low rate among injecting drug users. The […]
May issue
Food for thought Worldwide inspiration on harm reduction WE ARE RIGHTLY CONCERNED ABOUT TREATMENT IDEOLOGYin this country when, more than ever, so much depends on it. In this issue’s Soapbox (page 30) Paul Hayes argues that as we move towards the new public health system, service users will be at the heart of recovery –meaning client-centred treatment […]
Shifting sands – 2012 according to DDN
While the frequently hot-tempered harm reduction/abstinence debate that had characterised previous years finally appeared to be morphing into something more measured, 2012 still saw the sector negotiating upheaval on all sides and dramatic shifts in patterns of drug use. JANUARY Perhaps fittingly for early January, 2012 begins with a call from the cross-party science and technology committee to review […]
Delayed drug strategy promises ‘national recovery champion’
[…] by drugs.’ Paul Hayes: The home secretary’s personal commitment will provide the political energy to turn aspirations into outcomes. ‘The government’s recognition that evidence-based treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services need to be at the heart of our collective response to drug misuse is very welcome,’ said Collective Voice chief executive Paul Hayes. ‘Investment in […]
Height of ecstasy
[…] reduce the risks to a generation of young people. So with exams coming to an end and the festival season underway, it is imperative that those MDMA harm reduction messages are dusted off, refreshed and communicated to the new generation of users. As ever, drug terms and slang vary from place to place and over […]
Time to talk
[…] to explore them. While we live in a time of ‘austerity’ there has to be sufficient funding in the system to adequately care for people through prevention, harm reduction, early intervention, structured community and residential interventions and aftercare – and, underlying it all, mutual aid and positive social networking. The question should be, how do […]
Picture This
[…] naloxone – and promote change. ‘But it has to be us doing it,’ he stressed. ‘No one is knocking down our door wanting to take pictures of harm reduction, recovery, anything. We have to do it ourselves.’ The media, when it did use photographs, wanted images of people ‘overdosing in doorways’, he said. ‘We need […]
UK’s first consumption room opens in Glasgow
[…] The facility aims to be open from 9am to 9pm every day for people aged 18 or over, with staff on hand to ‘monitor injecting activity, provide harm reduction advice to minimise the risk of overdose and intervene with assistance if a person does overdose’, says HSCP. The consumption room was finally green-lit by Glasgow’s […]
A social space
[…] Events Centre. Much has changed since last year’s event, with the drug supply in the UK becoming increasingly toxic – which makes the need to scale up harm reduction services crucial. ‘It’s imperative now that we use spaces like the Social Justice Conference to find our people and team up to prevent further drug deaths, […]
Aspinden Care Home – a tailored approach
[…] dedicated staff team consists of qualified nursing staff, fully trained support workers, talented chefs and a CQC registered manager and management team. The service operates within a harm reduction model, offering a safe and non-judgemental environment for people currently drinking alcohol. While stabilising alcohol use and promoting recovery is essential, we take the pragmatic approach […]
Scotland expands naloxone provision to community pharmacies
[…] community knowledge and support’. (News March 2023): Peer-to-peer naloxone programmes can help to reduce stigma and boost confidence, says a new report from the Scottish Drugs Forum Search for naloxone distribution, pharmacy roles and harm reduction vacancies on DDN jobs Read more on harm reduction, and naloxone distribution in our archive. prenoxad Scottish Drugs Forum CEO Kirsten Horsburgh
‘Significant challenges’ to meeting government’s drug strategy ambitions, warns National Audit Office
[…] needs to understand how to change behaviours’. Gareth Davies: Government needs to develop a longer-term funded plan. ‘The government has shown a clear commitment to reducing the harm caused by illegal drugs by establishing a cross departmental drugs strategy and committing £900m in the first three years,’ said NAO head Gareth Davies. ‘But much […]
Government bans nitrous oxide
[…] to appear tough on drugs,’ said executive director Niamh Eastwood. ‘Nitrous oxide is a relatively safe substance, and possible health harms could be mitigated through a large-scale harm reduction campaign, educating people on how to stay safe. There is a much bigger risk associated with criminalisation, which impacts life opportunities including education and employment.’ Criminalising […]
A smarter approach
[…] than the criminal justice system. With ‘some of the worst outcomes in the country’ in Blackpool and ‘top of the leaderboard for ten years’ for drug-related deaths, harm reduction lead for public health, Emily Davis, explained how the region was one of the original pilot sites for Project ADDER and had been given the brief […]
Free to breathe
[…] is starting to look decidedly inappropriate. There is an inverse relationship between smoking and deprivation, with the highest levels of smoking, and the highest levels of smoking-related harm, found in the poorest communities. There is probably nothing that would have a greater impact on reducing health inequalities than reducing smoking among the poorest sectors […]
Drug services see reduction in frontline staff
[…] badly affected than others.’ The findings highlighted ‘the impact of the constant cycle of local commissioning and recommissioning, which many respondents felt was disruptive to services and harmful both to clients and staff’, he continued. ‘Over three quarters of those surveyed were working to contracts of three years or less; one in four respondents […]
More than half of services see reduction in frontline staff
[…] badly affected than others.’ The findings highlighted ‘the impact of the constant cycle of local commissioning and recommissioning, which many respondents felt was disruptive to services and harmful both to clients and staff’, he continued. ‘Over three quarters of those surveyed were working to contracts of three years or less; one in four respondents […]
Rachel Fantarrow – I am a…
[…] impact the outcome that someone achieves when accessing support for substance use. My role is so varied and can range from things like delivering training, writing guides, harm reduction, medicine management, audits, presenting at external events, community pharmacy visits, destruction of CDs, incident management, drug alerts, managing other pharmacy technicians, recruitment and induction. WHAT DO […]
No judgement
[…] multiple challenges, making sure they not just survived but went on to thrive, and the conference heard from some of them. Anna Millington, founder of the M2M harm reduction network, showed a video of her daughter Rain talking a few years ago about how her mother’s drug treatment made her feel, the stigma she felt […]
DDN November 2024
[…] 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 […]
Drug-related deaths up more than 10 per cent
[…] NHS much worse. As mental health issues, financial struggles, inequalities, and dangerous synthetic drugs continue to fuel the crisis, we must do everything possible to make sure harm reduction services reach those most at risk. We are at a critical moment, and strongly urge the government to respond to the calls from the Association of […]
No time to lose
The latest meeting of the APPG on Drugs, Alcohol and Justice was dedicated to looking at alcohol harm and treatment. Guest speakers were from VIA, introduced by the charity’s chair Yasmin Batliwala, who shared statistics to demonstrate the cost – both to individuals’ health and to services. The team would give thoughts on clinical […]
Loop to resume drug testing for festival season
[…] where members of the public can submit drugs they intend to use for testing, and which are then returned to them. Katy Porter: Accurate information enables effective harm reduction ‘The drug market is changing, and we are able to plan and prepare in our harm reduction messaging and response when we are informed regarding the […]
DDN 1402
[…] policies p6 ROOM AT THE TABLE? Discussing funding opportunities at the Creating Recovery conference p18 PROFILE Mat Southwell talks about three decades of work in advocacy and harm reduction p16 w.dr.dinkwwadu 50 YEARS OF DRUG SERVICES IN THE NATIONS CAPITAL w.drinikanrikugsenacursnoisnskm In acSocsanNisu111n 7rkN n57 duossman Nsmsnsur7dmkgseno7n-m75cesn 75smucgionkrr7bb7ekoc7uncunoiscmn 7Nuni7bsan27mnoi7asnI7dugnr csuoan Ni7nikenu7Nismsno7ng713 FE A TU RES […]
Met seizes 150,000 nitazene tablets
[…] 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. […]
Open market
[…] sent one of the most vilified substances on the planet. Accompanied by other, highly fresh Hot Topics talks on naloxone, legal highs, club drugs, the drug trade, harm reduction, sex work, employing users and policing, Power’s presentation shed light on the world’s rapidly changing drug market, and with it, a whole new raft of problems […]
DDN Conference 2023 session three: Voices of experience
[…] Ban the Box – a campaign to increase opportunities for people with convictions to compete for jobs: unlock.org.uk/project/ban-the-box BDP – Bristol Drugs Project is a charity providing harm reduction and treatment services for people who are experiencing a negative relationship with drugs and/or alcohol: www.bdp.org.uk Bill Nellis – Drug user activist and founder of the […]
Scotland calls for decriminalisation of all drugs
[…] calls on the UK government to implement decriminalisation ‘of all drugs for personal supply’. The document’s other proposals include immediate legislative changes to allow full implementation of harm reduction measures like consumption rooms and drug checking, and a ‘roadmap for further exploration of drug law reform’. The proposals follow recommendations made by the Drug Deaths […]
Remodelling our alcohol support
[…] on need, choice, and health. We have recognised that we need to work differently, ensuring we develop partnerships to support the varied levels of treatment options, from harm reduction advice and information to brief interventions and community detoxification. We have developed specific pathways for older people and those in the criminal justice system. Whilst this […]
Drinking age
[…] a nationwide public health campaign to show older people not only the extent of the problem but also how they can play a part in their own harm reduction.’ While Dry January is very much based around people who are already health-aware, what’s needed with older people is something to raise that awareness of harm, […]
British Army extends funding for Project Reset
[…] UK. While our Mil-SMART recovery programme will continue as a weekly support group available within the Catterick Garrison Community Hub and as a virtual offer, Project Reset focuses on harm reduction and prevention. It uses presentations to whole units around the dangers and consequences of alcohol use, gambling, and other addictive behaviours, while also educating people how […]
Your letters
[…] system or reduction of benefits’ is not the key, but the ‘evidence-based approach’ he and Caroline Lucas advocate is apparently nothing more than ‘a reduction of drug-related harms’ – not a reduction in drug usage and not a reduction in the number of addicted drug users, both voluntary and involuntary. In my 38 years […]
Another record year for England and Wales drug deaths
[…] over the long term a health-based focus improves outcomes in multiple areas – health, a reduced burden on the criminal justice system, and a reduced cost to society as a whole. Health-based enhanced harm reduction techniques are required here in Wales to help make a step change in outcomes.’ Martin Blakebrough, CEO, Kaleidoscope
Your letters
[…] am told if I give a person a needle and syringe I should record that as the starting point for a person’s recovery journey rather than a harm reduction intervention. The action is the same but the words have changed. The government strategy is condemned by its own think tank, The Centre for Social Justice, […]
Crunch time
[…] was ‘really good news’, he said, and it was important to separate the policy detail from the political framing that accompanied its publication. ‘Although the phrase “ harm reduction” isn’t leaping off every page, one of the three key metrics that the strategy picks out is about reducing harm and deaths.’ The focus on workforce […]
News in brief
[…] Anne Foster. Status report on alcohol and health in 35 European countries 2013 at www.euro.who.int New release Release has launched its new website, featuring a dedicated harm reduction section as well as enhanced policy and legal advice pages. ‘We’re really excited about the new website, which we believe is one of most comprehensive and […]