Different wavelengths
Dr Owen
Bowden
Jones,
appearing via
live video
link, warned
of a lack of
data NPS use:
‘We don’t
know the
long-term
effects of five
years of NPS
use, we just
don’t have
the data yet.’
The countdown to the
Psychoactive Substances Act
has been marked by controversy.
Kit Caless
shares debate from
Addaction’s recent conference
Novel Psychoactives
More on novel psychoactives:
L
ast month, the Psychoactive
Substances Act formed the focus of
Addaction’s NPS conference,
No longer
a novelty: the expert view
. More than
200 clinicians, practitioners, key workers,
managers and many others heard a wide
variety of views on both the coming
legislation and approaches to NPS treatment.
Ranging from the thought provoking to the
outright provocative, there were almost as
many opinions on the topic as there are
psychoactive substances.
Met police commander Simon Bray kicked
off the day discussing the implementation
and enforcement of the Psychoactive
Substances Act. To date, he explained, there
have been ‘a small number of successes but
they’ve been hard won and they’ve been
expensive’, going on to stress that the police
were able and ready to enforce the law, ‘as
soon as the act begins.’ Bray also said that
‘poppers’ may not be included in the act ‘in a
few months’ time’, foreshadowing subsequent
Home Office confirmation to this effect.
Professor David Nutt took to the lectern
next. Creating a febrile atmosphere, Nutt
spoke about his opposition to the act and the
myths he saw that surround NPS. In his
trademark forthright way, he questioned the
scientific validity of the act as it exempts
substances on precedence rather than on
harm, leading to a lively question and answer
session afterwards.
Later on, minister for prisons, Andrew
Selous discussed NPS use in prisons, citing a
rise in violence related to NPS use as a serious
problem. Selous informed delegates that ‘NPS
testing is currently underway in 34 prisons
[and] will be rolled out to all other prisons
shortly.’ He spoke candidly on the difficulties
posed by the explosion in NPS use, and left
the audience in no doubt as to how seriously
the trend was viewed.
In the second session, Majella Pearce from
HM Inspectorate of Prisons returned to this
topic, acknowledging the difficulties the
prison system has had getting a handle on
NPS use. She spoke
specifically of spice (a
synthetic
cannabinoid) in
prisons: ‘it’s very
linked to violence,
bullying, to debt’ and
‘for prison officers it
really has been a
huge change in the
behaviours they are
experiencing.’ She
also added that the
rise in synthetic
cannabinoid use
‘really took a lot of
people by surprise’.
Addaction’s Fern Hensley presented case
studies on managing NPS in prisons. She told
the audience that ‘one NPS-using prisoner
said he wouldn’t access services because
“spice isn’t a drug”’. Fern went on to showcase
the Trans4orm drug treatment programme in
HMP Lincoln, which has a 90 per cent
completion rate. Dr Mark Piper, from Randox
Testing, then took the delegates through the
scientific process of testing and how difficult
it is to stay on top of the ever-changing
chemical make-up of NPS.
The afternoon session was chaired by Jan
King from the Angelus Foundation. She spoke
about their campaigning and then introduced
Professor Harry Sumnall, whose compelling
talk highlighted the problem of NPS in
vulnerable populations, such as looked-after
children and people experiencing
homelessness. Sumnall said ‘levels of harm
are not likely to be affected by the new
Pychoactive Substances Act.’
Addaction’s Rick Bradley spoke about how
NPS has affected young people. Guiding
delegates through the history of NPS use he
said, ‘there was a huge amount of confusion
around the different products’ in 2010 when
mephedrone became illegal. The mainstream
media also came in for criticism – not for the
first time over the course of the conference –
as Bradley suggested
coverage of NPS ‘really
dilutes what we’re
trying to put across,
and that’s a real
concern.’
Dr Owen Bowden
Jones appeared via live
video link and spoke
about the Neptune
Project, which is
developing clinical
best practice for treatment groups. But he also
warned of a lack of data around NPS use: ‘We
don’t know the long-term effects of five years
of NPS use, we just don’t have the data yet.’
He advised clinicians to focus on the drugs’
effects, rather than their names.
Dr Ben Sessa gave an entertaining talk on
prohibition – ‘the elephant in the room’, as he
put it. He spoke of visiting around local head
shops in Weston-super-Mare and asking what
drugs were on the market and how you took
them, noting that store employees would
refuse to offer potentially useful harm
minimisation advice for fear of prosecution.
Finally, Addaction’s Kostas Agath rounded
things off to discuss how we move forward on
this tricky issue. He said that services need to
make potential service users feel welcome,
speaking to them factually and with
authenticity, and that it is paramount that
NPS users can see that there are services out
there for them.
The conference produced opposing views,
case studies and evidence, dialogue, debate
and a great deal of discussion. NPS use is likely
to remain a controversial issue in the substance
misuse sector over the coming years, so it’s
essential that the conversation continues.
Kit Caless is Addaction’s communications officer
for London and the South East
14 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2016
