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Letters
BE CAREFUL WHAT
YOU WISH FOR...
At several conferences over the last
few years, including at least twice at
DDN
service user involvement
conferences, I have had the pleasure
of hearing NTA chief executive Paul
Hayes speak. At these events he has
been challenged on why funding for
drug treatment has been made
available to tackle perceived drug
related-crime, and several times faced
impassioned pleas that drug use
should be seen as a health issue, not
dealt with by the criminal justice
system. On each occasion Mr Hayes
has agreed with the questioner, but
urged them to take a pragmatic
approach, pointing out the competition
that budgets would face within a wider
health and social care context.
I came across a ‘conference
special issue’ of
DDN
from 2008 and
Mr Hayes says: ‘Service users as a
group are unpopular with the public,
compared to old ladies who need hip
replacements or babies in incubators.
You are seen as the authors of your
own misfortune – there is no way we
can hide from that.’
Mr Hayes impressed on delegates
that while the NTA was working to
transform the negative image of drug
service users and challenging attitudes
towards them, its main business was
to use criminal justice-led funding to
improve treatment.
‘We are in the business of doing
good by stealth. Reject the victim
label, but also the fantasy that if
everyone would stop stigmatising you
everything would be alright,’ he urged.
This view was so deeply unpopular that
on several occasions what he was
saying was drowned out by loud booing
from the audience.
Fast forward four years and the
UK’s visible recovery movement has
made great inroads into challenging
stigma and having substance misuse
recognised for the health problem it
undoubtedly is. This will culminate in
April of next year when responsibility
for drug treatment will be administered
by the new Public Health England.
Surely this is being hailed as a major
victory within the field, and there is
much rejoicing across the land?
It would seem not. All I currently
hear is concern that drug treatment
budgets will be plundered by other
areas of public health, and how the
future removal of ring fencing will lead
to vast reductions of the amount
spent on treatment, with local
directors of public health diverting the
money to old people’s services or
child welfare. I don’t wish to hail Mr
Hayes as a great visionary, but on this
occasion maybe he did get it right. Is
there a chance that by winning an
important moral victory, we will have
lost the battle to maintain the high
levels of funding the field has been
enjoying. Is it a case of be careful of
what you wish for? I hope not.
T Small, by email
CORRECTION
In our last issue, the article
Joint
Forces
, (
DDN
, October, page 15) was
attributed to Cinzia Altobelli. It was
in fact written by her colleague Cat
Payne, therapeutic practitioner/tutor
at Action on Addiction’s Families
Plus team.
We welcome your letters...
Please email them to the editor, claire@cjwellings.com or post them
to the address on page 3. Letters may be edited for space or clarity –
please limit submissions to 350 words.
14 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| November 2012
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
LETTERS
ENTERPRISE CORNER
A SENSE OF PURPOSE
Helping people to regain their stake in society
can help to transform lives, says
Amar Lodhia
We’ve been trying to get our heads around
government policy on ‘joined-up’ working
between departments to tackle multiple social
disadvantage.
Trawling through the well-presented but
often redundant strategy documents, it is
evident that while self-employment is an
incredibly powerful social change platform – yes
we’ve proved it – the pennies haven’t dropped in
Whitehall yet. Surprising, because fromwhere I
am standing self-employment could be a way for
them to swap the pennies falling out of their
holey pockets for pounds in the public coffers. If I
was prime minister I’d certainly put ‘rocket boosters’ under that.
Instead, David Cameron announced in his law and order speech last
month that he is going to put ‘rocket boosters’ under payment by results
(PbR). His hope is that the social investment market will enable the voluntary
sector to deliver these contracts. Mr Cameron may actually be beaming
himself to a starship in a far away galaxy, but it is definitely not one called
‘Enterprise’ (or social enterprise) – again the prime minister has missed the
majority of the voluntary sector out.
Earlier this year, in partnership with a ‘magic circle’ law firm, we
completed the development of our social investment vehicle. As it stands, to
attract investment and deliver any type PbR contract would prove nothing
short of a bureaucratic and regulatory headache, even if we managed to
work around the regulation.
Staying on the subject of law and order, with 90 per cent of the prison
population suffering from a mental health issue, what needs to be done
inside is ‘retributive rehabilitation’. Breaking the cycle of reoffending, which
costs the taxpayer over £15bn annually, requires giving offenders positive
purpose by designing a system that enables them to overcome the barriers
and stigma they face on the outside –
ie
access to employment with a
criminal record, and housing provision. Many of the adult offenders we
interviewed as part of our research for the MoJ found that many offenders
do not have a fixed address when they leave, and often they have to travel
long distances (which cost more than £46) on release. So offenders may
often commit crime just to get food and a roof over their heads.
At the Conservative Party conference, I co-hosted a fringe event with
ResPublica and I reiterated my message that rehabilitation is done best
through finding one’s ‘purpose’. I have spent half a decade working with
people to find their purpose and stake in society and having personally found
mine through entrepreneurship, I was able to transform my life from a young
homeless, substance misusing offender to a serial entrepreneur – so I’d like
to think I am a living example of my own message.
For me, the key purpose will be not only to tackle the raft of problems, but
to unlock the aspiration the prime minister so passionately wants to prove
Britain can have. We must never forget that great talent can come from
anywhere. We all want the same thing – to transform our country into what it
should be, a leader in skills, the best place in the world to do business, and a
population made up of talented entrepreneurs who have aspiration to succeed.
If you are interested in seeing our work in action, email me for a free
ticket to attend our grandest event of the year on the 14th November 2012
during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
I’d also be interested in hearing your views. Contact me at
ceo@tsbccic.org.uk and follow us me on Twitter @amarlodhia or
@tsbclondon – don’t forget to use the #tag DDNews
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy CIC (TSBC)
‘I don’t wish to hail
Mr Hayes as a
great visionary,
but on this
occasionmaybe
he did get it right.
Is there a chance
that by winning an
important moral
victory, we will have
lost the battle?’