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in our sector over the past ten years. The nature and
type of drug use is changing, with legal highs
becoming increasingly common and a reduction in
individuals using heroin and cocaine. There are greater
numbers of ageing users presenting with more
complex health problems than perhaps ever before.
On the positive side, the public perception of
illicit drug misuse is starting to shift. It is slowly
being seen as a healthcare issue, rather than as a
criminal one. The politics of alcohol has also come
into play, with government ministers willing to talk,
albeit cautiously, about the links between the price
of alcohol and its abuse.
There will be important changes ahead that will
impact on the planning, commissioning and delivery
of services resulting in a very different landscape of
service provision. The reality is that it is likely there
will be fewer specialist treatment services available –
‘choice’ of service by the user, which has been
systematically eroded, will become even more so.
The resident government, regardless of political
persuasion, is likely to be amenable to discussion on
UK drugs policy – not because it wants to, but
because it has to in order to keep up with current
thinking. This may lead to the state regulation of
illicit drugs becoming a possibility.
The substances misused will continue to change
and the dynamics of treatment versus prevention
will be played out in the public arena. The short-term
future appears somewhat bleak, but strangely this
gives cause for optimism: things can only get better!
Yasmin Batliwala, chair, WDP
‘WE’LL BUILD ON SUCCESSES’
THIS YEAR DISC IS CELEBRATING
30 years of
being at the forefront of service delivery to those
facing the most challenging circumstances.
We’ve expanded from a charity focused on
training to the development of our current
organisation – one of the north’s most successful
charities, with over 400 staff, 100 volunteers and
peer mentors, and an annual turnover of £16m.
We’re committed to supporting people and
communities to achieve their goals and helping
people reach their potential.
Our anniversary has caused us to reflect on what
we’ve achieved. We can look back on some amazing
successes; contracts won, jobs created and
partnerships improved. But what we really care
passionately about is the number of people, year on
year, whose lives we’ve helped to improve. Through
initiatives developed by DISC, we have supported
more than 100,000 people in the last ten years alone.
We’re an innovative organisation and we are
constantly developing diverse ways to meet the
needs of current and future service users. By
investing in new programmes, developing new
partnerships and leading with innovation, we will
continue to support healthy communities to bring
about change and provide inventive services to help
those with problems of alcohol and drug addiction
overcome challenges in their lives.
Mark Weeding, CEO, DISC
‘WE’RE IN A SOCIAL
INEQUALITY WAR’
THE PAST TEN YEARS
have seen remarkable changes:
the years of expansion in drug treatment, the stall,
then a chill wind of austerity biting in many areas.
The massive influx of cash driven by the Blair
government’s wish to reduce drug-related crime came
hand-in-hand with what the Scots call the ‘English
disease’ of targets, data collection (forms, damn
forms!) and increasing performance management by
commissioners. The NTA quango, with its `delivery
assurance’ role and armed with `toolkits and guidance’
pushed the sector hard and fast with a mantle of
assumed power (all ‘fur coats and no knickers’!).
The bubble was burst by a groundswell of people in
recovery (rightly) wanting more, and a new coalition
government wanting something different. The vibrant
recovery movement is a fabulous legacy of this decade,
but growing stigma against those who cannot reach
abstinence is a deeply worrying sign of a society that
increasingly disapproves of all state dependence.
By 2024 there will be a lot more old people: one in
three over 65 by 2015 and increasing at 4 per cent a
year. There will be less money – with a per capita spend
on health and welfare less than the USA by 2018. My
cynical self thinks this will drive funding to ‘mandated
groups’ only (eg the elderly and children) OR those
doing the most harm to others – where interventions
are cost-effective. Our ‘lifestyle diseases’may be left to
‘mutual aid’, web-based health intervention, volunteers
and a postcode lottery of services.
I sincerely hope we don’t have another heroin
epidemic or a new methamphetamine epidemic. I
hope synthetic drugs become even less moreish and
cannabis CBD levels rise. Who knows, maybe we will
follow the USA on cannabis, as we have in obesity.
In 2024, I aim to still be around, championing the
cause. We are not in a drugs war, we are in a social
inequality war – and we need more troops.
Annette Dale-Perera, strategic director:
addictions and offender care, CNWL
‘The word “family”
appeared twice in the
2002... drugs strategy.’
VIVIENNE EVANS
‘The public perception
of illicit drug misuse
is starting to shift.’
YASMIN BATLIWALA
‘We have supported more
than 100,000 people in
the last ten years...’
MARK WEEDING
November 2014 |
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