WOULD YOU HAVE EVER IMAGINED A TIME
when more people in the UK reported
last-year cannabis use than tobacco? That time is now, according to 2011/12
Global Drug Survey data shared at the inaugural Crew Substance Use Symposium
(CREWSUS). The figures are 68 per cent and 65 per cent respectively, compared to
64 per cent and 70 per cent the year before.
An audience of 70 professionals, peer educators and service providers, mostly
from Scotland but some from as far south as York and London, arrived in Perth for
CREWSUS 2012 to hear this surprising fact in among the very latest news about
drug use and what frontline drug services like Crew are doing about it.
One of the highlights of the day was the celebrated Dr AdamWinstock, Global
Drug Survey founder, who explored its latest findings. First up, alcohol use in
Scotland, where 20 per cent of people scored in the ‘high risk’ or ‘dependent’
categories, with the surprise outcome that this level is now the same for both men
and women. Looking at the use of novel psychoactive substances, and Adam’s
phrase of ‘mystery white powders’, users are now, more than ever, consuming
substances when they have no idea what they contain, a result, perhaps, of the
marketing of substances under brand names.
Another key – and surprising – finding was that more Scottish respondents had
Jeremy Adderley reports
from the inaugural Crew
Substance Use Symposium
14 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| April 2012
Awareness|
Drug trends
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
tried cannabis than had ever tried tobacco, with data from the Scottish Crime and
Justice survey confirming almost nine in ten (87.2 per cent) of those who had used
any illicit drug in the last month had used cannabis in that time. With limited
services and treatment options for cannabis users, compounded by increasing
referrals for its use, this is truly something to consider. Despite psychostimulants
being the drug category of choice for the vast majority of our population, after
alcohol, a shocking finding was that very few people would trust a government
website for information about them – just 3 per cent – instead preferring to use
potentially unregulated internet-based resources such as forums, or more
commonly, seeking advice from peers.
So what did CREWSUS reveal about what Crew and sister organisations were
doing about it? Opening the event, Crew’s national director John Arthur highlighted
the perceived ‘false dichotomy’ between harm reduction and recovery and explored
the principles that actually unite them as an approach. Crew promotes a ‘stepped
care approach’ to substance use which meets people ‘wherever they are at’ in their
substance use and, crucially, doesn’t wait until people become problematic. It uses
these principles in an approach that is person-centred and sets quality of life and
wellbeing as important measures. CREWSUS workshops highlighted the key stages
of the stepped care approach and invited delegates to look at practical measures
that would work within their own organisations.
Innovation was a key message for the day – particularly the potential in using new
media for a range of interventions, beginning with information provision through to
tackling problematic substance use within an environment increasingly fuelled by
unregulated drug marketing. AdamWinstock showcased the brand new web and
smartphone based self-assessment tool
Drugsmeter.com
. Crew also announced the
successful funding of Crew Online, a service designed to support people looking to
stabilise, reduce or stop their substance use based on the findings of their recent pilot
and international collaboration OASIS, which clearly demonstrated an online service
need in the community.
From discussion with delegates, one of the main needs highlighted was ongoing
updates on drug trends in Scotland. Crew training and outreach coordinator Katy
MacLeod and George Burton from national training provider STRADA spoke about
their development of training around novel psychoactive substances and emerging
trends. In exploring key challenges for frontline staff, what was resoundingly echoed
by delegates was a gap in services for psychostimulants users, with frontline staff
and organisations generally opiate-focused and often lacking in knowledge and
confidence to ask about or deal with psychostimulant use.
With statistics suggesting Scotland is the cocaine capital of Europe (WHO), the
rise in new psychoactive substances, re-emergence of MDMA and an increase in
referrals for support around long-term cannabis use, it would be unwise not to
respond to these findings. With current budget restrictions and more emphasis than
ever on preventative spend, Crew suggests we need to be intervening earlier and not
waiting until use becomes problematic. It also suggests the need to recognise that
people
can
and
do
use substances relatively safely and therefore we must ensure
that we have credible resources available for people to make informed choices.
So a day of highlighting challenges to workers certainly, but moreover a day of
exploring ways of tackling these challenges, at every stage of substance use.
In partnership with Incite, Crew will be running open workshops in Aberdeen:
Psychostimulation on 24 April and Legally High? on 25 April.
Crew are also running free training for trainers events on 30 April in Edinburgh
and 21 May in Glasgow. www.mind-altering.org
Left: Live art at CREWSUS 2012 – demonstrating a range of outreach techniques
to reach substance users.
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