HIT HOT TOPICS
6 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| February 2016
‘
A
s long as drug users are marginalised
and stigmatised there are going to be
harms,’ said Pat O’Hare, opening HIT’s
annual
Hot Topics
conference. The
question was, how could we tackle this
against a backdrop of disinvestment, where harm
reduction was being ‘dismantled bit by bit’?
Alex Stevens, professor at the University of Kent, used
statistics to show how drug deaths were misused, ‘to
scare and to support ineffective policies’. The attention
on new psychoactive substances (NPS) had brought ‘the
most radical departure in drug policy’ – but meanwhile
heroin deaths had increased by 64 per cent.
‘So why aren’t we focusing on heroin? Because of
who these people are,’ he said.
Death rates were particularly linked to deprived
areas in the north of England, and specifically to men
who had lost industrial jobs in the 1980s and ’90s and
turned to heroin use as ‘it was all there was’. This group
was now middle aged and becoming very vulnerable.
Looking at how deaths were reported in the
national papers gave a snapshot of how different
drug users were perceived. Following deaths from
NPS, descriptions typically included the words
‘brilliant, student, gifted’. Heroin or methadone
deaths were more likely to contain language related
to ‘junkie’.
This discrimination was used to support ineffective
policies, the psychoactive substances bill, prohibition
in general, cuts and churn in services, and
recommissioning, he said.
Not only were people were being written off as
‘not useful’, but ‘the shortage of public funds is being
used as an excuse for lack of action,’ he said.
So how could we try to change public perception –
and therefore change policy?
US professor and research scientist, Carl Hart,
threw a challenge to the audience to embrace ‘the
three Cs’ – their convictions, capability and courage.
Commenting that ‘you British are very controlled’, he
said ‘I’m going to ask that you get a little more angry.’
‘Drugs are used as scapegoats,’ he said, quoting
examples such as a newspaper headline from the
1930s: ‘Negro cocaine fiends are a new southern
menace’...
‘I hope this gives you conviction to change our
narrative,’ he said.
Using capability and courage involved critical
thinking and calling on the facts to challenge
exaggerated science.
‘One of the facts that people ignore is that 80-90
per cent of drug users do not have a problem,’ he said.
‘You have to have courage to tell people we have
exaggerated the harmful effects of drugs. You have to
have courage to challenge scientists in a public space.’
It was not a formula for popularity, he
acknowledged. ‘Be prepared to lose funding, friends,
professional achievements and respect… but history
will judge you favourably because you are right.’
‘Hold them accountable with the facts,’ he added.
‘You have to publicly embarrass people. If you don’t,
our people quietly suffer.’
Bengt Kayser, teacher and researcher at the
University of Lausanne, Switzerland, explored the
topic of doping to demonstrate a culture of
exaggerated responses and moral panic.
‘Myths get a ring of truth because they are
published in a scientific journal,’ he said. ‘Debunking
this type of myth is important.’ Responses could
become exaggerated and moral panic could too easily
turn into a moral crusade.
‘Sebastian Coe is dangerous for harm reduction in
England because he pushes zero tolerance,’ he said.
Stigma, misunder-
standing and a lack of
communication cloud
our policy and practice
on drugs, said speakers
at HIT
Hot Topics.
DDN
reports on their
ideas for a fresh approach.
Photos by
Nigel Brunsdon
‘Why aren’t we
focusing on heroin?
Because of who
these people are...’
ALEX STEVENS
‘You have to have
courage to tell people
we have exaggerated
the harmful effects
of drugs...’
CARL HART
CHANGING
