ON THE COVER
DDN is an independent publication, entirely funded by advertising.
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Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals
Supporting organisations:
4
NEWS
Ireland considers introducing consumption rooms and decriminalising
small amounts of drugs for personal use. DDN’s round-up of local and
national news.
6
THE STATE WE’RE IN
The benefits of diamorphine prescribing are proven, says Erin O’Mara.
Forcing stable people off their scripts shows a treatment system in
terminal decline.
10
COVER STORY
‘We lack honesty and courage as a sector.’Trying to get the balance right
in the tricky issue of safeguarding children.
14
LEANER AND KEENER
’The 2010 strategy got the big calls right.’ Paul Hayes of Collective Voice
looks at what shape the next drug strategy should take.
16
LETTERS AND COMMENT
Moral maze: taking issue with ‘divisive terms’ and ‘moral narratives’
18
DARK DAYS
DDN looks back on a challenging for year for the drug sector.
December 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 3
editor’s letter
‘Agencies must work
together... what a difference
they canmake when engaged’
Contents
T
alking about child safeguarding requires such a delicate balance.
Why are we missing signs that children are at risk? The recent
Adfam/DDN conference (page 10) highlights ‘one of the most
difficult and fraught areas of practice’, ‘a Pandora’s Box’, that finds us
wanting in ‘honesty and courage as a sector’. How can we redress this?
Adfam’s research finds training to be crucial, as well as agencies
working more effectively together to minimise risk – a point illustrated
by Karen Hammond, speaking at the
HIT Hot Topics
conference about
the (potentially pivotal) role of public health nurses. What a difference
they can make, when properly informed and engaged.
I don’t need to remind you that it’s been a tough year (page 18).
Gathering thoughts on where we should head for a new drug strategy,
Paul Hayes wants to build on the vision of keeping the individual at the
centre of treatment. But for some, this is already a far cry from reality,
as diamorphine prescribing is driven from the treatment landscape
(page 6). Who cares about the evidence base now, asks Erin O’Mara.
We need to hear about your experience of treatment in time for the
ninth national service user involvement conference in February. Our
theme is ‘Get the picture’ and we want your experiences – please head
to our website to get involved. While you’re there, don’t forget to
renew your free subscription if you want to keep receiving DDN!
I hope there’s plenty in this issue to keep you in touch with us over
the break – we’ll be back with our next issue on 1 February. In the
meantime, have a happy and restful Christmas and new year.
Claire Brown, editor
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Cover by Mary Evans Picture Library
Safeguarding children, p10
