Page 18 - Drink and Drugs News

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DDN will be hosting The
8TH NATIONAL
SERVICE USER INVOLVEMENT CONFERENCE
on 19 February 2015, in Birmingham.
BOOK YOUR TICKETS
online at
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/SUconf15
Here’s a little reminder of what
we got up to last year...
EndnotE
A DECADE OF DDN
In January 2005 we canvassed opinion on cannabis reclassification,
a year after it was changed from a class B to class C drug…
The politician:
Mo Mowlam
‘This is an absurd situation. An activity which is very
common, much enjoyed and relatively harmless, is
made illegal.’
The doctor:
Clare Gerada
‘Long-term use can lead to acute and chronic bronchitis,
lung cancer and asthma and is also associated with mouth,
tongue and stomach cancer. There are also the mental
health risks, especially schizophrenia.’
The substance misuse worker:
Stacy Bunting
‘The law has made little impact. Most young people view
cannabis to be the least harmful of all the illicit drugs,
and “it’s not as bad as drinking alcohol or smoking fags”.’
The user:
Kate
‘Everyone does it, you don’t need to bother hiding it anymore.
Everyone’s totally blatant about it now.’
The police officer:
Gordon Blake
‘There is now a belief that it is actually legal and you can’t be
arrested for it. They are very surprised to learn that if you are
found with cannabis on you, you are still likely to be arrested.’
The youth worker:
Steve Aherne
‘Most young adults think cannabis should be legalised and freely
available from your local chemist. This would help with the
drug’s purity and lower the amount of dealers on the street.’
The magistrate
‘There has been a slight decrease in the number of prosecutions
for personal possession… usually as a result of being picked up by
the police on an unrelated matter such as a driving offence.’
The transport worker:
Ben Franklin
‘We have always had problems with people smoking dope on
buses and in the bus stations… the majority of people smoking
are kids who know they won’t get prosecuted.’
NEWWORLD, OLD DATA
Commissioning is based on information.
Nearly every diagram that tries to explain the
commissioning cycle starts with the word
‘understand’.
But as a commissioner, the last few years
have been challenging and here I am sat in
2015 trying to understand the current
situation using data that feels ten years old.
Criminal justice data, drug-related
offences, waiting times, percentage in
effective treatment… this was data all set up
by the last government to meet their
objectives, which were largely focused on
reducing acquisitive crime. It filled an
information void which had existed before.
Yet despite the change of government, and
the world moving on, the data I receive is not
significantly different.
So what do commissioners need to know
in 2015? There is a far greater focus now on
alcohol, safeguarding, domestic abuse and
mental health issues. Emerging new drugs
(novel psychoactive substances) are cause for
concern, as are the number of individuals
presenting for alcohol-related hospital
admissions.
This is the type of information I want –
rather than the number of offenders triaged
within six weeks of referral who start a
modality within the month.
Of course we do what we can locally
within our own organisations and with our
partners to try and acquire this data ourselves,
but it is not easy.
My hope is that behind the scenes, Public
Health England and other national bodies are
working together to develop this data and
make it accessible to local areas.
Because only when the understanding is
right, can we get commissioning decisions right.
THE SECRET COMMISSIONER
Off the record – DDN brings you thoughts and advice from our insider
‘This is the
type of
information
I want..’
DDN back issues are available
to search and read online at
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
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drinkanddrugsnews
| February 2015
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com