Basic HTML Version
METH MIGRATION
Methamphetamine manufacture, traditionally
concentrated close to major markets in North America
and East and South East Asia, has now spread to
other countries, according to a report from UNODC.
Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Guatemala are
among the countries where manufacture is taking
place, says
Global SMART update 2014
, while it is also
spreading across Europe, ‘though at low levels’.
Report at www.unodc.org
PREMIUM PLANS
Public Health England (PHE) is consulting on aspects
of the Health Premium Incentive Scheme (HPIS) –
which rewards local authorities for public health
improvements in line with indicators from the public
health outcomes framework – and public health
funding allocations for 2015-16.
Consultation at
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-
premium-incentive-scheme-and-public-health-
allocations until 23 October
ACUTE ISSUES
A study of specialist alcohol health workers in
hospitals has found that ‘the work is often
precarious and underfunded’, with more investment
and better research needed. ‘The government’s
alcohol strategy identified hospital-based specialists
as key,’ said James Nicholls, director of research
and policy development at Alcohol Research UK,
which funded the study. ‘It is vitally important that
this role is adequately supported.’
Report at
alcoholresearchuk.org
FAMILY FUNDS
A £120,000 funding package to support families
affected by drug and alcohol problems in rural areas
has been announced by the Scottish Government. The
money will go towards a small grants scheme
administered through the Lloyds Partnership Drug
Initiative, which promotes voluntary sector work with
vulnerable young people. ‘It is vital that everyone has
access to these services no matter where they live,’
said community safety minister Roseanna Cunningham.
BLUE SKY THINKING
Prison drug charity RAPt is to merge with Blue Sky
Development, a social enterprise providing
employment to offenders. Blue Sky’s jobs will be
targeted at RAPt graduates, ‘giving them a step on a
career path to support their continued recoveries.’
BENEFIT BLUNDERS
Welfare sanctions can have unintended
consequences including distancing people from
support, negative impacts on third parties –
particularly children – and ‘displacing rather than
resolving issues such as street homelessness and
anti-social behaviour’, according to a report from the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). Sanctions also
disproportionately affect those under 25, as well as
homeless people and other vulnerable groups, it says.
Welfare sanctions and conditionality in the UK at
www.jrf.org.uk
A new report from the Global Commission on Drug
Policy has called for an end to the criminalisation of
drug use and possession. Among the recommenda-
tions in
Taking control: pathways to drug policies that
work
are that health and community safety be
prioritised by ‘a fundamental reorientation’ of policy
and resources away from punitive approaches, and to
‘allow and encourage diverse experiments’ in legally
regulating markets for drugs – ‘beginning with, but
not limited to, cannabis, coca leaf and certain novel
psychoactive substances’.
The commission, members of which include the
former presidents of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico,
Poland, Portugal and Switzerland, is ‘the most
distinguished group of high-level leaders to ever call
for such far-reaching changes’, it says. The report also
wants to see ‘equitable access’ to opiate-based pain
medication, an end to the imposition of compulsory
treatment and alternatives to prison for ‘non-violent,
low-level’ participants in illegal drug markets, such as
farmers or couriers.
‘It is time to change course,’ said former UN
secretary general and convenor of the West Africa
Commission on Drugs, Kofi Annan. ‘We need drug
policies informed by evidence of what actually works,
rather than policies that criminalise drug use while
failing to provide access to effective prevention or
treatment. This has led not only to overcrowded jails
but also to severe health and social problems.’
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are to discuss
ending the use of imprisonment for possession of
drugs for personal use at the their annual conference
in Glasgow this month, along with moving the ‘drugs
and alcohol policy lead from the Home Office to the
Department of Health’.
The proposals are contained in the party’s ‘pre-
manifesto’ document, which also states that they
would establish a commission to look at the
effectiveness of UK drug laws and alternative
approaches, including ‘further work on diverting users
into treatment or into civil penalties that do not
attract a criminal record which can seriously affect
their chances of employment’.
Taking control: pathways to drug policies that work
at www.globalcommissionondrugs.org
Pre-manifesto 2014 at www.libdems.org.uk
NEWS IN BRIEF
October 2014 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 5
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
Time to stop criminalising drug
users, says global commission
RED CARD:
Work and pensions secretary
Iain Duncan Smith used his speech at last
month’s Conservative Party conference to
outline plans to pilot a pre-paid benefit card
scheme, which would be targeted at people
with addiction issues to stop them spending
the money on drugs, alcohol or gambling.
‘I have long believed that where parents have
fallen into a damaging spiral – drug or alcohol
addiction, even problem debt, or more – we
need to find ways to safeguard them, and
more importantly, their families, their
children,’ he said. ‘That means benefits paid
should go to support the wellbeing of their
families, not to feed their destructive habits.’
DrugScope’s
State of the sector 2014
surveys (
DDN
,
September, page 8) are now live.
Mainly intended for local service managers from
the NHS, voluntary, community and private sectors,
as well as social enterprises and partnerships, the
aim of the surveys is to create ‘a snapshot of the drug
and alcohol treatment sector in England’ and enable
DrugScope and the Recovery Partnership to ‘provide
an informed voice to influence future policy
implementation and development’.
There are separate questionnaires for managers of
adult community and residential services, young
people’s services and prison-based services, which
have been developed in consultation with service
providers and others. All responses are confidential,
and the surveys will be open until mid-October.
Surveys at http://bit.ly/1rAo8H3
Have your say