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MEDIA SAVVY
WHO’S BEEN SAYINGWHAT..?
Is there a link between life on welfare and the vile crimes which appear on our
daily news schedules?... Of course the vast majority of welfare claimants are
genuinely in need of help and would prefer to stand on their own feet. But for
some it’s a lifestyle choice that puts them outside the norms of conventional
society. Not having to work frees up time, which, for those with few intellectual
resources and lowself-respect, sometimes leads to a reliance on alcohol, drugs and
pornography. Killers [Mick] Philpott, [Stuart] Hazell and [Mark] Bridger were all, to
some degree, assisted in becoming monsters by the welfare benefits system.
Peter McKay,
Mail
, 3 June
Drug use is a morally neutral subject in the British press. It’s the identity of
those concerned that dictates the tone. When aristocratic models are involved,
it’s glamorous; when powerful politicians are, it’s youthful folly, and when
anyone else is, it’s a serious criminal offence. Working-class-girl-done-good
Tulisa [Contostavlos] belongs to a group which the press takes particular relish
in taking down a peg.
Ellen E Jones,
Independent
, 3 June
The saga of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has progressed from tragedy
through scandal to farce, and has now plumbed astonishing new depths of
moral and political squalor… But the CQC cannot now be put right because the
NHS cannot be put right. For the root of this moral and professional corruption
is that the entire bureaucracy of the NHS – up through the secretary of state
to the prime minister himself – conspires to tell the public the big lie that the
NHS remains a national treasure because no other system matches it for
decency and compassion. In fact, the opposite is true.
Melanie Phillips,
Mail
, 24 June
Specialist care can pull people back from the brink of the most devastating
consequences of alcohol misuse, especially alcohol-related liver disease, give
them back their self-respect and restore them to their families and communities.
The development of high-quality, integrated prevention and treatment services
for those with alcohol-related disease would be a wise investment for the future
health of our nation, especially that of our young people.
Kieran Moriarty,
Guardian
, 3 June
All the evidence is there that we as a nation have a drinking problem, and we
cannot handle it. Visiting tourists, including those from the US, gaze open-
mouthed at our heavy drinking culture. And yet the government, for fear of
being branded nanny statists, has failed to take action.
Jane Merrick,
Independent
, 4 June
After 50 years of prohibition, drugs are cheaper and more available than ever
before. The collateral damage – particularly to countries that produce the
drugs and those through which they pass – is devastating. Surely the
governments of the world can do a better job of limiting harms than the
cartels, whose only motivation is profit, and who are the principal
beneficiaries of the present approach?
Amanda Feilding,
Guardian
, 14 June
Sometimes, I feel as if the greatest barrier to ending the nightmare is political
inertia maintained by the hunger of political leaders to dip into the billions of
dollars in funding earmarked for drug-war operations.
Javier Sicilia,
Observer
, 2 June
July 2013 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7
Media savvy |
Policy scope
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
POLICY SCOPE
I was in the House of Lords on 3 July for the
launch of DrugScope and AVA’s report The
challenge of change
on improving services for
women involved in prostitution and substance
misuse. The findings and recommendations of
the report are covered in this issue (page 6), but
I wanted to add a couple of general reflections.
The
Drug strategy 2010
talks about ‘recovery’
as an ‘individual, person-centred journey’, but is
largely silent on matters of difference and
identity. I was surprised to find, for example,
that there are no direct references to ‘women’ or
‘girls’ in the strategy. There is a lack of intermediate space between abstract
generalisations like ‘treatment’ and ‘recovery’ and invocation of the specific
needs of particular individuals. I suspect this encourages a tendency to think
and plan in terms of adult males as a ‘default setting’ unless gender is
highlighted.
Evidence and experience suggest that gender is vital for engagement,
treatment and reintegration. St Mungo’s Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign
is highlighting the extent to which recovery is ‘gendered’, with women tending
to place a greater focus on rebuilding relationships, including with children.
Most obviously, women’s involvement in substance misuse (and supply) is often
framed by abusive and exploitative relationships with men, including domestic
and sexual abuse. Local approaches therefore need to link up drug and alcohol
strategies with violence against women and girls initiatives, for example.
Conversely, I wonder if thinking about some women with drug or alcohol
problems as ‘sex workers’ or ‘prostitutes’ can obscure the extent to which this
group shares needs, aspirations and characteristics with other people in
treatment (that’s why we were very careful about language in our report,
incidentally, opting after much discussion for ‘women involved in prostitution’).
For example, the women we spoke to valued the harm reduction services that
were targeted at them (needle exchange, condoms and ‘scripts’) but equally
they spoke about their aspirations for a decent place to live, a ‘normal’ job and
a future for their children, and felt services sold them short when it came to
reintegration and recovery. It is also striking how often the women we spoke
with fitted the profile we associate with ‘multiple needs’ (including homeless-
ness, recent imprisonment and mental health issues), and yet how marginal
they have been to the recent evolution of – and investment in – this agenda.
The terminology of ‘prostitution’ can bring so much cultural baggage –
and such a weight of stigma – that the risk is, as it were, that, paradoxically,
we only see the particularities and miss the generalisations. While attention
to the former is absolutely vital to providing good services, ignoring the latter
risks selling women involved in prostitution short.
The ‘challenge of change’ is at
www.drugscope.org.uk/POLICY+TOPICS/Prostitution+and+substance+use.htm
DrugScope/LDAN has also produced a report on domestic violence and at
http://www.ldan.org.uk/PDFs/DVReport.pdf
Marcus Roberts is director of policy and membership at DrugScope, the
national membership organisation for the drugs field, www.drugscope.org.uk
Using appropriate language is an essential
step in supporting women involved in
prostitution, says
Marcus Roberts
RIGHT TERMS