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23 March 2009 |
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Hostels to prescribe naloxone
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Homeless charity St Mungo’s is to prescribe
naloxone – the drug that can reverse the effects of
a heroin overdose – on a trial basis to clients living
in its hostels.
The trial will cover two hostels, with a view to
expanding to other sites, and is being carried out in
partnership with South London and Maudsley Trust
and Southwark DAAT and PCT. It will initially only
be available to clients who have entered treatment.
The initiative follows a successful pilot project
at the charity’s Southwark hostel, which saw the
drug successfully administered six times, on each
occasion by another client – although staff at the
hostel were also trained to administer the drug.
Despite naloxone having a proven track record of
reversing overdose, its distribution remains
inconsistent (
DDN
, 1 December 2008, page12).
Delegates at
Voices for choices
heard Wiltshire DAAT
harm reduction lead Mick Webb describe how a
successful pilot to distribute the drug on an
outreach basis saved lives and call for it to be made
more widely available (this issue, page 11).
‘The success of the naloxone pilot speaks for
itself,’ said substance use regional manager for St
Mungo’s, Gayle Jones. ‘Six lives have been saved
since naloxone was introduced and our clients are
happy with the project. Naloxone is a life-saving
and virtually side effect free drug. An ambulance is
always called when naloxone is administered to
provide vital follow-up medical support but having
naloxone on site saves precious time. We are
working to expand the use of naloxone within our
hostels and to widen the availability to clients who
are not engaged with treatment services but who
may be at high risk of overdosing.’
A trial to provide prisoners with ‘take home’
packs of naloxone on release, to be funded by the
Medical Research Council, will also begin next month.
UN sticks to prohibition
The world’s drug problem had been ‘contained but not solved’ said
executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, as the United Nations
Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) met in Vienna to review the
effectiveness of drug control and what had been achieved since
the UN General Assembly’s special session on drugs in 1998.
The meeting took place against a backdrop of growing
dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of the prohibitionist
approach. While acknowledging that drug control had
unintentionally led to a vast criminal black market, Antonio
Maria Costa said ‘drugs are not harmful because they are
controlled, they are controlled because they are harmful.’
However, writing in
The Guardian
newspaper, chair of the
International Drug Policy Consortium Mike Trace said ‘evidence of
the failure of policy is overwhelming’ and accused UNODC of
having ‘no recognition of a decade's evidence, no new ideas or
initiatives’, while Transform called for a year-long moratorium on
‘strategic drug policy commitments at the global level’ to allow
for meaningful evaluation. ‘This is a watershed moment for the
UN, member states and the NGO world,’ said head of policy
Danny Kushlick. ‘World leaders need to take a stand for the
principles upon which the UN was created.’
More than 1,400 delegates from 130 countries attended the
commission, which concluded with the adoption of a draft
political declaration and plan of action on the future of drug
control, stressing ‘health as the basis for international drug
policy’. The commission also saw UNODC and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) launch a joint programme on drug
treatment and care, with the aim of sending ‘a strong message
to policy makers regarding the need to develop services that
address drug use disorders in a pragmatic, science-based and
humanitarian way, replacing stigma and discrimination with
knowledge, care recovery opportunities and reintegration.’
A series of fact sheets on human rights and drug policy have
been launched by the International Harm Reduction Agency
(IHRA), Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute to
coincide with the commission.
Available at www.ihra.net
Bespoke services get best results
Young people respond far more positively to
treatment when it is tailored to their needs and
when families are included, according to a new
report from Addaction.
Closing the gaps
sets out the results of a three-
year lottery-funded pilot study of young people
aged between 10 and 19 with complex drug and
alcohol problems whose needs could not be met
in mainstream services.
Among the findings were that 82 per cent of
young people involved in the Young Addaction
Plus pilot reduced or stabilised their drug use,
while 91 per cent made positive changes to their
lives. Addaction wants to see treatment for young
people tailored to take account of specific needs,
dedicated family support integrated into services,
and for services to be able to respond quickly to
young people in vulnerable situations.
‘Young people sometimes have major
problems with their misuse of drink and drugs,
but it is possible with commitment and an
informed approach to change things for the
better,’ said the charity’s chair Adrian Auer.
Addaction has produced another new report,
Trouble and love
, examining the impact of drugs
on family life.
www.addaction.org.uk
CMO calls for minimum price for alcohol
Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has called for the introduction of a minimum
price of 50p per unit of alcohol, one of a range of recommendations in his annual
report. It is also time to recognise the effects of ‘passive drinking’ on society as a
whole, according to
On the state of public health
.
The report wants to see a shift in public opinion along the lines of the move to
smoke-free public places, with drunkenness no longer socially acceptable – passive
drinking is a ‘concept whose time has come’, it says. Other recommendations
include making public health considerations a central part of the licensing process,
making passive drinking the basis of national awareness campaigns, and for a
government-prompted ‘national consensus’ that the country as a whole should
substantially reduce its alcohol consumption.
The recommendations aim to tackle the ‘collateral damage’ that alcohol causes
for family members, society, the NHS and the economy. The average adult in the UK
drinks the equivalent of 120 bottles a wine per year, says the report, and, while
other European countries have seen a fall in alcohol consumption since 1970,
England’s consumption has grown by 40 per cent.
The 50p minimum price, designed to target heavy drinkers, would mean that a
750ml bottle of 12 per cent wine could not be sold for less than £4.50, a 2 litre bottle
of 5.5 per cent cider for less than £5.50 or a six-pack of 500ml 4 per cent cans of beer
for less than £6. The report claims it would lead to more than 3,000 fewer deaths and
nearly 98,000 fewer hospital admissions per year.
However, the recommendation was leaked ahead of the report’s publication and
the government appeared keen to distance itself from the proposal – widely assumed
to be a result of the economic climate and forthcoming election – alcohol industry
body The Portman Group said minimum pricing would ‘not deter binge drinkers or
those addicted to alcohol’. The Scottish Government, however, is planning to introduce
minimum pricing – along with a ban on bulk discount promotions and local flexibility
to ban off sales to under-21s – as part of its forthcoming Criminal Justice and
Licensing Bill, although a specific price has yet to be set (
DDN
, 9 March, page 4).
‘England has a drink problem and the whole of society bears the burden,’ said
the CMO. ‘The passive effects of heavy drinking on innocent parties are easily
underestimated and frequently ignored. The concept of passive drinking and the
devastating collateral effect that alcohol can have on others must be addressed on a
national scale. Cheap alcohol is killing us as never before. The quality of life of
families and in cities and towns up and down the country is being eroded by the
effects of excessive drinking.’
Full report available at www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/
AnnualReports/DH_096206