EndnotE
20 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| September 2015
DDN back issues are available
to search and read online at
whether you want to
walk, run, ride your bike
or throw some shapes,
there’s something for
you this recovery month!
Throughout September there are
events the length and breadth of
the country celebrating the
power of recovery.
ddn help
is a free resource to
help you find everything you need
relating to addiction – from treatment
and training to events and job
opportunities. Just search the map and
you’ll find a handy listing of what’s
happening near you.
Visit
for more
information, and don’t forget to
drop the ddn team a line to let us
know how you celebrated recovery
this september – email
.
Find out what’s going on in your area on
A DECADE OF DDN
In September 2005 the Alliance’s development manager, Daren
Garratt, asked why we still tolerate discriminatory legislation
The importance of integrating drug user involvement
and peer-led support with drug treatment within the
criminal justice system can’t be underestimated, but
there remains a very real fear that, unless we can
lobby for effective policy change at a strategic level,
we may be dooming many ex-cons to fail; particularly
those who view user involvement as a way to
mobilise themselves, secure employment and give
something back to their community.
Why? Because under present legislature you
cannot get public liability insurance if you’ve got a
conviction, regardless of the nature of the crime or
when you served your sentence. It’s a shameful
situation that makes a mockery of the Rehabilitation
of Offenders Act, and could seriously jeopardise both
the NTA’s treatment effectiveness strategy and the
Home Office’s new peer support project.
Think about it. You’ve just completed a prison
sentence and, thanks to the highly effective,
individually tailored drug treatment regime you
received, you’re ready to contact your DAT, get involved
in user involvement and, ideally, set up your own group
and provide some peer-led interventions. The DAT is
great, the local agency is encouraging and gets you in
touch with some local users and neighbouring groups
who willingly share their best practice and help you
draw up a terms of reference and constitution.
You’re all set. This is the last step in your recovery.
You’ve found your vocation, you’re respected, you’ve
got a purpose, self-worth and the ability to finally
stop being defined by the mistakes of your past and
build a brighter future. To celebrate, you decide to
launch your new group with a big DAT-supported
open-air event… but you can’t because you can’t get
public liability insurance, which also means you can’t
legitimately establish your group and support your
peers in your own premises. You’re back to square
one. What was the point?
