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BRINK BREAKTHROUGH
Jacquie Johnston-Lynch, founder of groundbreaking
dry bar The Brink in Liverpool (
DDN
, December
2011, page 12), has been named Lloyds Bank
social entrepreneur of the year. The award comes
with a £10,000 prize, which will be put towards
training for staff in early recovery, refurbishment
and a new marketing campaign for the venue.
‘Winning this award is such a huge validation of
all the hard work of every single staff member of
The Brink,’ she said. ‘It recognises the
transformation we are making in a city that was
previously known for its high levels of binge
drinking and drug taking. And it is also an
acknowledgement to all those miraculous people
who have literally “come back from the brink” in
their own personal lives.’
RECOVERY ROCKS
An alcohol-free evening of live music is taking
place at The Bodega in Nottingham on 22
November, presented by Double Impact and SCUF.
Money raised at Recovery Rocks will go towards
providing sleeping bags for homeless people
during the winter months and the establishment
of Sobar, an alcohol-free venue due to open early
next year.
Details and tickets at www.alt-
tickets.co.uk, or contact Double Impact on
0115 824 0366
WOULD YOU CREDIT IT?
A new universal credit factsheet has been
produced by DrugScope and the Recovery
Partnership, setting out key issues that services
and professionals supporting people with drug or
alcohol use may want to consider, including
eligibility, making a claim and the ‘claimant
commitment’. The government says it is
committed to delivering universal credit – which
has been dogged by controversy and IT problems
(
DDN
, October, page 4) – across the country by
2017.
Available at www.drugscope.org.uk
MONEY MATTERS
A new one-to-one money advice service for clients
has been launched by Swanswell, in partnership
with the Severn Trent Trust Fund. ‘Some of the
people using our services have been particularly
affected by the recent welfare reforms, so we felt
it was really important to offer more support
around managing debts and budgeting,’ said
regional development manager David Lewis.
VINTAGE VOLUNTEERS
A range of refurbished original furniture pieces
from the 1950s-’70s has been launched by social
enterprise RE:SOURCE, in partnership with
Addaction. The RE:SOURCE Vintage range has
been restored by volunteers and is available at
www.resourcevintage.org.uk, with profits going
towards further training.
NEWS IN BRIEF
November 2013 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
The treatment system for alcohol dependence among
adults in England is ‘performing well overall’, with
increasing numbers of people accessing and
completing treatment, according to Public Health
England (PHE).
There are around 110,000 people in specialist
alcohol treatment, although it is ‘vital to continue to
widen the availability and accessibility’ of support,
says PHE. Approximately 1.6m people are estimated to
have some level of alcohol dependence, with roughly
250,000 thought to be moderately or severely
dependent and in need of intensive treatment.
Most people seeking treatment are in the 30-54
age range, with a total of 109,683 people treated in
2012-13, up from 108,906 the previous year. Almost
76,000 were new clients and 58 per cent successfully
completed their treatment, says PHE.
It was vital that treatment was easily accessible, said
PHE’s director of alcohol and drugs, Rosanna O’Connor,
with the full range of NICE-recommended options
available and services ‘properly joined up with the NHS
and other partners, including mutual aid groups.
Prevention is better than cure, and PHE is working to
support a range of initiatives,’ she said. These included
better identification of those at risk, improvements in
hospital-based alcohol services and use of local health
information by councils to inform licensing decisions.
Meanwhile the Irish government has committed
itself to minimum unit pricing in its forthcoming
Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, along with measures to
toughen regulation of marketing and sponsorship. It
will also consult with the Northern Irish authorities to
make sure there are no significant differences in
pricing structure over the border. The British
government shelved its plans to introduce minimum
pricing earlier this year (
DDN
, May, page 4).
‘Alcohol misuse in Ireland is a serious problem with
two thousand of our hospital beds occupied each
night by people with alcohol-related illness or injury,’
said Irish health minister Dr James Reilly. ‘The average
Irish person over the age of 15 is consuming the
equivalent of a bottle of vodka a week. The
government is
committed to
tackling these
problems and this
week’s decision
marks a significant
further step in that
direction to create an
environment where
responsible
consumption of
alcohol is the norm.’
Recent research by
Drinkaware found
that almost half of 10
to 14-year-olds had
seen their parents
drunk, the charity has
announced. ‘While
setting rules about alcohol and speaking to children
about the risks is a positive step, equally important is
that parents understand their significant influence as
role models and feel confident to set a good example,’
said chief executive Elaine Hindal.
Alcohol treatment figures at
www.nta.nhs.uk/statistics.aspx
PHE: alcohol treatment
‘performing well overall’
‘The average
Irish person
over the age
of 15 is
consuming
the equivalent
of a bottle of
vodka a week.’
Dr James Reilly
The government is creating new powers to seize
chemicals suspected of being used as cutting agents
for illegal drugs, as part of its
Serious and organised
crime strategy
. The move will ‘drive up the cost and
risk for organised criminals’, it says.
Other measures set out in the strategy include
doubling the size of HMRC’s criminal taxes unit – which
uses tax interventions to ‘attack the finances’ of people
involved in drug trafficking and other offences – and
moves to increase pubic recognition of offences, with the
document citing a recent Home Office-funded
‘crimestoppers’ awareness-raising campaign on cannabis
cultivation that led to a 25 per cent increase in public
reporting. There will also be more use of intervention
programmes around gangs and troubled families.
The document states that, although drug use is
falling in the UK, the country’s illegal drugs market is
still worth around £3.7bn a year and is ‘controlled by
organised crime’. The strategy ‘focuses on preventing
people from getting involved in organised crime,
improving Britain’s protection against serious and
organised criminality and ensuring communities,
victims and witnesses are supported when serious and
organised crimes occur’, the government says.
Meanwhile, Norman Baker has replaced Jeremy
Browne as crime prevention minister in a government
reshuffle. His responsibilities will include the drugs
strategy, alcohol – including the Licensing Act and
police and local authority powers – public health,
domestic violence and homelessness. The appointment
is a controversial one, in part because Baker is the
author of a book arguing that the verdict of suicide in
the death of former weapons inspector Dr David Kelly
was ‘not credible’. Elsewhere, Jane Ellison has taken
over as public health minister from Anna Soubry.
Serious and organised crime strategy at www.gov.uk
Government announces new drug
powers as Baker replaces Browne