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‘I DON’T HAVE A POLITICAL AXE TO
GRIND
– it’s a personal story. But that’s what the
general public can relate to,’ says Kate McKenzie,
one of the speakers at this morning’s
Evidence is
not enough
session on the factors that led people
from different backgrounds to harm reduction.
For Kate, it was her daughter Hannah’s struggle
with heroin, the subject of the 2008 documentary
Mum, Heroin and Me
. Since then Hannah has
entered treatment, relapsed, and is now being
treated in a French psychiatric hospital for mental
health problems.
‘They’re treating her mental health rather than
her addiction – rather than the symptom, they’re
going to the cause. I’m very passionate about dual
diagnosis – I feel very strongly that often services
are just putting a plaster on a wound and not
getting to the root of the problem.’
Kate was also a member of the Brighton
Independent Drugs Commission, one re-
commendation of which was a feasibility study into
the establishment of consumption rooms in the
city – something unsurprisingly seized on by the
British press.
‘Of course that’s what they focus on, even
though there were 20 recommendations, including
around dual diagnosis. It’s whipping up hysteria. My
mantra is that the information out there is flawed,
and a lot of misinformation is peddled by the popu-
lar press. It’s down to people like myself to inform
other families that this can happen to anyone.’
Her other mantra is that drug users need treat-
ment rather than punishment, she states. ‘I get
very angry. Even among drug treatment I felt that
their attitude was sometimes not wholly supportive
and rather patronising. You don’t always get the
support when you need it.’
Personal stories can be an immensely powerful
way of changing opinions, however. ‘You see
people become far less hardline, whereas if you say
it’s government policy or this or that commission,
they tend to glaze over. If you can get the majority
to be more understanding, then politicians wouldn’t
be so scared of changing policy.’
But she remains optimistic that this will change.
‘More and more people in a position of authority
are beginning to advocate the prescribing of
heroin, for example. You just need a few more and
for them to join up and put the pressure where it’s
needed. Politicians are still running scared,
although often privately they agree.
‘It’s a complex, frustrating situation, but that
doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We’ve got to
keep battling.’
Power of the personal
HIGHLIGHTS
Monday 10 June
MAJOR SESSIONS
Alfa Room
9.00–10.30
Evidence is not enough: family,
community and social justice in the
harm reduction response
11.00–12.30
Access to hepatitis C treatment:
from national to global advocacy
14.00–15.30
OST: national regional development
16.00–17.30
National drug policy and harm
reduction advocacy
17.30–19.00
Evening workshops on: a toolkit
for care workers to manage
ethical dilemmas; hepatitis C;
and ketamine.
Dialogue Space
11.00–12.00
: UN technical guidance:
creating new advocacy platforms
12.00–13.00
: Frontline: A photo-
ethnography of drug using
environments
13.00–14.00
: Demonstration of low
dead space needles and syringes
14.00–15.00
: Drug law reform
and HIV
15.00–16.00
: Social media, harm
reduction and drug policy reform
16.00–16.30
: Communicating harm
reduction
16.30–17.30
: Women and harm
reduction
DAILY UPDATE
Monday 10 June 2013