EndnotE
I GREW UP IN A NORTHERN TOWN
and got into drugs the same way most people
do, and by 25 found my heroin addiction too
much. After six home detoxifications and one
hospital admission the penny dropped that I
was very ill and needed to stop using, which I
did. Naltrexone played a part in this and a
good structured daycare service allowed me to
understand my addiction and reassess what I
wanted out of life.
I started volunteering at my service doing
art sessions then facilitating relapse
prevention sessions. The service liked my work
and after a lot of hard work found funding for
a one-year part-time trainee drugs worker
post, which I completed. Eventually I ended up
running the structured daycare programme
full time and did this for many years, after
which I temped all over – inpatient
detoxification unit, prescribing/dual diagnosis
service, DRR service, prescribing and more.
My current post is working in a dual
diagnosis/prescribing service in a rundown
northern city where heroin is still the drug of
choice, despite national trends, and I want to
share my thoughts on the things I see and
hear as a frontline drug worker. IDS and the
DWP do not care about drug users. They do
not care about ‘the methadone industry
keeping people addicted’. What they care
about is money, full stop, and this war on the
methadone industry will give no alternative
other than dealer supply. But at least the
dealers can cover the phones 24/7 when
services are usually stuck with 9 to 5.
In my opinion the only way to move
forward is to keep working with people on all
fronts of addiction. NA, structured daycare
that moves to volunteering and education,
and even prescribing services all have their
place in helping people move forward.
Ifwe arenot careful toappreciateour services
IDSwill say they arenot fit for purpose andwewill
beback to themid ’90s – fromwhat I hear prisons
are already atmid ’90s standards.Yes drugs are
continuing to change, but druguse is increasing
while serviceprovision is reducing, sopleasedon’t
buy intopoliticians telling you that youdeserve
betterwhile takingaway the little youhave.
Something to get off your
chest? Share it ‘off the record’
by emailing the editor,
OFF THE RECORD
A frontline drug worker, once a service user himself, warns
against being taken in by the politicians’ promises
‘...at least
the dealers
can cover
the phones
24/7when
services
are usually
stuckwith
9 to 5.’
18 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2015
A DECADE OF DDN
In April 2005 Norrie McKechnie, an alcohol counsellor in the
south west, was concerned that the new licensing bill would
change our drinking culture for the worse…
SINCE THE NEW LICENSING BILL HAS APPEARED
there have been a lot of buzzwords
floating around – 24-hour opening, flexible hours, staggering hours, last orders.
The reality of course is not about 24-hour opening or flexible drinking.
Very few high street pubs and clubs will open 24 hours as it would cost too
much. Nor will there be flexible hours between pubs – they will stay open as
late as the last one to close, maybe 12.30am or 1.00am, and they will cream
off the best hours.
You will still have the last orders drinking-up regime and you will still have
people hitting the street at the same time – only they will be drunker, as they
will have had cheaper pub drinks available for longer. Clubs will stay open till
3.00am or 4.00am, with price wars to get drinkers in as early as possible.
If you believe this is all in my imagination, look at Scotland. That’s exactly
what’s happened up there, since extended hours came into play. In the big cities
the focus and concentration of drinkers hitting the streets has not changed in
numbers; only the times have changed – from around 1.00am in the past, to
35,000 drinkers now hitting the streets of Glasgow between 4.00am and
5.00am. The only staggering done up there is by the drinkers, not the pubs.
Licence reforms are a political bribe, a bribe to the binge drinkers, and a
bribe to the drinks industry that has got away scot free with most of this,
and will make a fortune. And again, no one will refuse it; these pubs and
clubs will be packed. And the chancellor will make a killing in increased
revenue – not bad going eh?
DDN back issues are available
o search and read online at
ww.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘Licence reforms
are... a bribe to the
drinks industry
that has got away
scot free with most
of this, and will
make a fortune...’
