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‘WE’VE BEEN RIDING
A CHEMICAL CAROUSEL’
IT’S ONLY WHEN YOU STEP BACK
from the day-
to-day hubbub that you realise what a chemical
carousel we’ve been riding for the past decade in this
world of drugs.
In 2004, cannabis was regraded from class B to C
after three years of wrangling from the first
announcement. In 2005 the then Tory leader Michael
Howard vowed that if his party won the next election,
they would put it back to B and accused Labour of
being soft on drugs. They didn’t win, but Labour in turn
asked the ACMD to reconsider the classification once
again. The ACMD resisted the political and media
clamour for another change, but couldn’t in 2007 when
Gordon Brown, the in-coming PM, declared his intention
to reclassify whatever the evidence. At the same time,
the police were uncovering previously unsuspected
numbers of cannabis farms across the country; from a
position in 2002 where the imported/home grown ratio
was about 75:25, by the late noughties the situation
was reversed. Yet all the evidence showed that cannabis
use was falling. Who was/is consuming all this
cannabis? We still don’t really know.
Other drugs were showing a similar trend; we
began to experience an ageing heroin population, and
the use of other drugs such as MDMA, amphetamine
and cocaine were not at the levels of the 1990s. Other
drugs were apparently tailing off in popularity, but
were causing real problems for those who carried on
using – ketamine being the prime example.
But overall the stats were going in the right direction.
It was the quiet before the storm. In 2009, say hello to
mephedrone, synthetic cannabinoids and the whole dust
storm caused by the advent of new psychoactive drugs,
which still swirls on. The internet has been the game
changer in this dynamic flux. And not just for buying
drugs whose actions mimic club and other recreational
drugs. We now have an array of performance and
prescription drugs available at the click of a mouse – all
driven by a well-embedded worldwide connected
industry of retailers, wholesalers and chemists.
Down at the sharp end, the drug treatment field has
undergone some seismic shifts – moving from a
political focus on harm reduction and crime prevention
to recovery, accompanied by a removal of ring-fenced
funding, ferocious contract-culture and a cliff drop in
public spending. The UK drug treatment system has
been hailed as world class in its comprehensive
coverage, its adherence to the evidence base and its
basic humanity and pragmatism. No doubt new drugs
will come and go and the arguments for and against
law reformwill rage on. But our real concerns must be
for the future of services caring for our most vulnerable
citizens. One can only hope that in ten years time we
are not looking back and mourning what we have lost.
Harry Shapiro, director of communications
and information, DrugScope
‘LACK OF FUNDINGWILL
HAVE A MASSIVE IMPACT’
PEOPLE’S NEEDS
are becoming much more complex,
with increased mental health issues, general health
concerns, and higher levels of medication. We’ve seen
the use of new drugs such as legal highs, an increase
in ketamine use, and in the last ten years an
explosion of alcohol problems. There’s also a time-
bomb with gambling and gaming.
With many rehabs closing, there is a move
towards recovery, but it involves a less skilled
workforce as community providers especially look
to volunteers and support workers. There’s been
more domination by big national community
providers as contracts tendered are for the whole
service and not the separate parts. We’re going the
way of the few big supermarkets. By 2024 we’re
likely to have one or two dominant market players
and just a handful of specialist providers.
The lack of funding coming will have a massive
impact and set the whole field back decades, with
rises in crime and deaths due to addiction. I’m sorry
to paint a bit of a bleak picture, but this,
unfortunately, is how I see it.
Brian Dudley, chief executive, Broadway Lodge
12 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| November 2014
Anniversary special |
10 years in the field
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
What has the past decade meant to you and
your role? What have been the most
significant changes to the sector? And what
will happen next? You gave it to us straight
My, how
you’ve
changed!