8 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7 February 2011
Cover story |
Services under threat
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
With more people needing
their services than ever,
Release have found
themselves with a question
mark over the future of
their helpline. The charity’s
head of legal services,
Niamh Eastwood, explains
that there’s a lot to lose
HANGING ON
R
elease’s mission is to help those whose lives
are disproportionately affected by the impact of
drug use and the policies associated with it –
whether it is someone living in poverty addicted
to crack cocaine or heroin, or a young person who is
being over-policed through the use of drug laws.
Funding the organisation has always been
challenging. In 2005 the Home Office stopped providing
financial support for the helpline on the basis that
budgets had been devolved to the local drug action
teams. The principle of localism continues under the
current government, and while this system clearly has
many benefits, it appears that little thought was given to
funding mechanisms for national services like Release,
despite the fact that Release provides services at a
very local level.
Anyone in the UK can contact the helpline, and
every year thousands of people from all over the
country do. They can be young people facing a ruinous
criminal record for a minor drug offence, homeless
heroin users being refused treatment, desperate
parents of drug users, young black men being
harassed on the streets or employees being
dismissed due to a random drug test at work.
Since 2005 funding for the helpline has largely
come from innovative financial management, as well
as corporate and public donations. The recession has
had a huge impact on the last two of these income
streams, and without immediate significant financial
assistance the organisation will have no choice but to
close the helpline.
Release’s executive director, Sebastian Saville, has
written to James Brokenshire MP about the funding
situation and, while the minister acknowledges the
good work that is being done, as did his predecessors,
there seems no political will to provide any funds from
central government – not surprising, one might think,
considering the current economic situation. Yet, the
budget for Talk To Frank, the government’s own drug
helpline, was £5.07m in 2010 – and £3.77m of this
figure was spent on advertising.
The annual cost of running the Release helpline is
approximately 6 per cent of Talk To Frank’s advertising
budget. The helpline is staffed by a team of lawyers, drug
experts and volunteers who advise the public on a
myriad of issues including drug testing in the workplace,
stop and search laws, prosecutions involving drugs and
housing or welfare matters impacting on drug users.
Hundreds of calls are received every month, many from
professionals working in the field seeking clarification on
laws affecting their clients or enquiring about their own
professional standards, such as issues involving
confidentiality and information sharing. For those
accessing this service there is no other alternative; ‘Talk
To Frank’ simply does not have the expertise to provide
such advice, and often refers callers to Release.
‘It is fair to say that Release epitomises the notion
of “Big Society” – a service that people want, meets
real need, experts support and that has been delivered
by committed people cleverly finding funds to pay for it,’
says Sebastian Saville. ‘Whereas Talk To Frank is about
as close to “Big Government” as one can get – funded
exclusively by taxpayer’s money, delivering government
propaganda about drugs and, of most concern, the vast
majority being spent on administration and advertising.’
Funding drug services outside of commissioning
streams is tough – people who use drugs are not seen
as a worthy charitable cause. Yet the legal team at
Release would argue that the need to protect the
rights of drug users goes beyond the issue of drugs
and even drug policy. Kirstie Douse, a solicitor at the
charity, explains:
‘People who use drugs problematically are often
seen as easy targets when it comes to developing
government policy, which if applied to other groups would
not be seen as acceptable – they are the guinea pigs for
legislation which undermines our civil liberties.
‘For example, the introduction of closure orders in
2003 saw thousands of people throughout England
and Wales have their homes closed for three or more
months because of alleged anti-social behaviour and
reasonable suspicion of class A drug use. The
Release legal team dealt with a number of these
cases where the evidence produced was pretty flimsy
and, in many cases, the tenant of the property had
been targeted by local dealers and their home taken
over. Instead of being protected and supported, these
people were facing homelessness.
‘This legislation was subsequently extended to those
deemed to be a “nuisance” and premises considered a
brothel. The need to advocate on behalf of our clients
not only aims to ensure that they are treated with equal
dignity and respect, but also to try and prevent the
introduction of laws which undermine the rights of all
citizens.’
Release provides a range of other services, including
a unique and highly used legal outreach programme. This
involves lawyers at the organisation attending drug
projects in the London area to provide legal advice,
assistance and representation to people who use drugs
problematically, and to those in recovery. The service is
accessed by over 2,000 people every year and the
problems addressed include homelessness, welfare
benefits, debt, police complaints and housing matters.
Those using this service come from some of the
poorest areas of London, many are marginalised and