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‘While headlines and media discussion
report numbers and systems, we
need to focus on individuals.’
DeaDly SeriouS
I enjoyed both attending the recent
DDN national service user involvement
conference, and reading the coverage in
the latest issue of the magazine.
Meeting and networking with some
fantastic projects from around the
country really opens your eyes to the
innovative work that is going on,
especially in the face of reduced
resources.
However the one element of the
event that made the most impact on
me was the session around drug-
related deaths, which engaged with the
MEDIA SAVVY
DEAD MEN AND WOMEN were
walking the streets of central
Manchester this week. Some
of them, their faces wan and
eyes open but filled with a
terrible vacancy, stumble
forward with arms out-
stretched. Others stand stock-
still like shop mannequins,
seemingly unconscious but
upright, or slumped
forward, as commuters scurry
past with their heads down…
These are the victims of Spice
Andrew Malone, Mail, 10 March
RISE OF THE ZOMBIES: Cheaper and
more addictive than crack, Spice is the
synthetic drug that turns users into the
'living dead' in minutes and is ruining
lives across Britain.
Mail headline, 10 March
‘ZOMBIE' DRUG side effects to be
recorded on national database.
Telegraph headline, 22 March
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
HEROIN ABUSE is a subject surrounded
by horror and myth, frequently
exaggerated and increasingly viewed by
medical opinion – and the courts – as a
sickness rather than wrongdoing. What
is not in doubt is that this drug often
does grave damage to those who take
it, and that some of them pay for their
habit through vicious, selfish crime, in
audience and asked for their personal
experiences. The session highlighted
that while headlines and media
discussion reported numbers and
systems, we needed to focus on
individuals and the human tragedy
being created. Though there may be
multiple reasons for the increase in
drug related deaths, including access to
treatment, social deprivation, and
wider health care issues such as
hepatitis C, one that delegates kept
returning to was stigmatisation and
how drug users are often viewed to
‘have brought it on themselves’.
Unfortunately while we can't wave a
magic wand to increase funding levels
and improve treatment for all,
challenging stigma and highlighting the
human tragedy of addiction and in
particular drug-related deaths is
something that can be done. There are
some fantastic campaigns that do this
such as ‘Support Don't Punish’ and the
Remembrance Day events in July, but I
would be keen to hear of any more
projects or initiatives that local groups
like ours can get involved in.
John Matthews, by email
If you are involved in any
campaigns that challenge stigma,
please let us know.
Be a knockout!
We are gearing up for our fourth
annual recovery games for the
Yorkshire and Humber region and are
looking for ways to support the event.
We usually host it at a local water
park near Doncaster and it is an ideal
opportunity for groups of individuals
to come and participate, as well as
family, friends and children. The event
is based around It’s a Knockout, with
groups of approximately ten taking
part in trials throughout the day, with
a final obstacle course race to decide
the winning team.
Year on year we have seen more
than 400 people attend and last year
over 600 people joined us and took
part in our fantastic ‘colour run’ and
games.
This year we are keen to invite
other organisations to help support the
games, as they are a fantastic
opportunity to celebrate visible
recovery and tie into the ‘five ways to
wellbeing’.
If you are interested in sponsoring
this event, or are able to contribute in
any way, please contact me on 01302
303902 or [email protected].
Stuart Green, service manager, Aspire
The news, and the skews, in the national media
some cases against friends and family…
It costs UK taxpayers an estimated
£300m a year to provide methadone,
but very few who take it, perhaps 5 per
cent, abandon their habit. They might
have done so anyway.
Mail on Sunday editorial, 5 March
THE WESTMINSTER KILLER was another
lowlife jailbird, who had been in prison
three times for (among other things)
stabbing a man in the face… A former
school friend says he began to go
downhill after he started smoking
cannabis in his teens. Even if he gave
up later, cannabis is linked to long-
term, lingering mental illness. He is
also said by some who knew him to
have been a bodybuilder, so he may
have been taking steroids – these
powerful mood-influencing drugs were
also used by the Norwegian mass-
murderer Anders Breivik, the rampage
killer Raoul Moat, and the Orlando
mass-killer Omar Mateen. I doubt we'll
ever know, since the authorities,
obsessed with finding links to a
bearded supremo in an eastern cave,
are almost totally uninterested in the
amazingly strong correlation between
mind-altering drugs and crazed
violence, and so don’t find out.
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday,
27 March
ALL TOO MANY ARE IN PRISON because
of our failed, woefully misguided ‘war
on drugs’: not just the possession and
distribution of arbitrarily criminalised
substances, but other crimes linked to
the trade. Black Britons are far more
likely to be stopped and searched on
suspicion of possession, and far more
likely to be charged and incarcerated if
they are found with drugs. Lots of well-
to-do white youngsters e xperiment
with drugs at some point, but are
unlikely to suffer a sanction with life-
changing consequences.
Owen Jones, Guardian, 7 March
April 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 17