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Public Health England (PHE) has issued a statement
that it does not recognise the portrait of a treatment
system ‘unambitious for recovery’ in the
No quick fix
report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
The report, which received extensive media coverage,
states that ‘more than 40,000 people’ were being
‘abandoned on state-supplied heroin substitutes’ for
more than four years, and that a ‘drug and alcohol crisis’
was ‘fuelling social breakdown’.
While England continued to face major challenges from
substance use, it was wrong to argue that the treatment
system was ‘broken’, said the statement from PHE’s
director of alcohol and drugs, Rosanna O’Connor. ‘This
ignores the considerable progress made,’ she said. ‘The
system is continually evolving, has risen to meet existing
challenges and is developing effective responses to
emerging ones – not least the proliferation of new drugs.’
According to the CSJ report, the UK has become ‘a
hub for “legal high” websites’, with postal services acting
as ‘couriers in the deadly trade’ and responses to new
psychoactive substances ‘bureaucratic and inadequate’. It
also states that, according to Freedom of Information (FOI)
data, 55 per cent of English local authorities have cut their
residential treatment budgets since the coalition came to
power, while ‘harm reduction services that maintain people
in their addiction have been preserved under the NHS
ring-fence’, with a 40 per cent rise in the number of people
on substitute prescription for more than a decade.
‘There is a perception amongst some that alcohol and
drug abuse are in remission,’ says the document. ‘Our
research shows the opposite. The costs to society of
substance abuse are rising. Use of opiates and crack
remains high and roughly one new drug enters the market
each week.’ The report argues that there are entrenched
‘vested interests’ in the treatment system, with supporters
of substitute treatment ‘resistant to reform’.
‘Drug and alcohol abuse fuels poverty and
deprivation, leading to family breakdown and child
neglect, homelessness, crime, debt, and long-term
worklessness,’ said CSJ director Christian Guy. ‘From its
impact on children to its consequences for pensioners,
dependency destroys lives, wrecks families and blights
communities.’ Although methadone could be ‘a way of
stabilising chaotic drug users’ it was often used to ‘keep
a lid on problems’, he continued, constituting a system
‘no different to taxpayers supporting an alcoholic by
prescribing them vodka instead of them drinking gin.’
Meanwhile, there have been fresh warnings about new
psychoactive substances in the PHE-commissioned
National Poisons Information Service’s (NPIS) annual
review, with calls to its experts about ‘legal highs’
increasing by nearly 50 per cent since 2011. ‘People should
be aware that as many of these products are relatively new
there is much less information about their safety,’ said
director of NPIS’ Newcastle unit, Dr Simon Thomas.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has also
recommended that three prescription medicines –
including the ‘z drug’ sedatives zopiclone and zaleplon,
as well as lisdexamfetamine, which is used in ADHD
medicine – be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
‘These drugs have a legitimate medical use but people
should be under no illusion – taking them without
prescription and medical advice can be dangerous,’ said
ACMD chair Professor Les Iversen.
No quick fix: exposing the depth of Britain's drugs and
alcohol problem at www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk
National Poisons Information Service – annual report
2012/2013 at
www.hpa.org.uk/Publications/ChemicalsPoisons/NationalPois
onsInformationServiceAnnualReports/
BARNES AWAY
DrugScope chief executive Martin Barnes
is to leave the organisation at the end of
the year, the charity has announced.
‘DrugScope is a terrific organisation
working to support our members and a
sector which makes a vital contribution to
improving the lives and wellbeing of many
individuals, families and communities,’ he
said. ‘It has been a privilege to work for
DrugScope and for a sector which is
passionate, caring and effective.’
NO CREDIT
The Department for Work and Pensions’
universal credit programme has suffered
from ‘weak management, ineffective
control and poor governance’, according
to a report from the National Audit
Office. The initiative has ‘not achieved
value for money’ in its early
implementation, says the document, with
more than 70 per cent of the £425m
spent so far going on IT systems, £34m
of which has already been written off.
Universal credit: early progress at
www.nao.org.uk
DRY RUN
Alcohol Concern has launched its Dry
January 2014 campaign – which aims to
encourage 10,000 people to give up
alcohol for the whole of January – with
an event in Shoreditch, east London.
‘British people love to talk about
drinking, but we’re not convinced we’re
having the right conversations,’ says the
organisation. ‘We’re using the campaign
to help people think about their drinking,
perhaps break bad habits, and maybe
make a change by cutting down for the
rest of the year.’
www.dryjanuary.org.uk
RED CARD
The government should restrict alcohol
marketing during televised football
matches, according to researchers from
Newcastle University. There were more
than 4,000 visual references to alcohol –
mainly billboards – in just over 18 hours
of football studied on BBC, ITV and Sky,
in addition to verbal references and
adverts. ‘We were surprised by just how
many images there were during these
games,’ said speciality registrar in public
health, Andy Graham. ‘It was a constant
bombardment. We believe a similar
restriction to that imposed on tobacco
products may be justified.’
Study at
alcalc.oxfordjournals.org
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| October 2013
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
NEWS IN BRIEF
PHE ‘does not recognise’
picture in think tank report
STRATEGIC THINKING: A guide to
help local councillors develop an
effective alcohol strategy has been
put together by Alcohol Concern,
setting out the ways in which
prioritised action can save money
as well as reduce crime and alcohol-
related ill health. ‘We know that the
cost of alcohol misuse is enormous
and that it takes its toll on so many
aspects of our communities,
whether it’s policing, providing
hospital treatment or supporting
children living with parents with an alcohol problem,’ said chief executive Eric Appleby. As well as
illustrating the extent of the damage done by alcohol misuse, the guide would support councillors to
‘develop a robust and effective alcohol strategy which benefits their entire community’, he said.
The guide to alcohol for councillors free to download at
www.alcoholconcern.org.uk