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Contents
editor’s letter
ON THE COVER
‘We need to understand the risks
of Xanax and the culture behind it’
I
How much of a risk is Xanax?
4
NEWS
MPs lobby for prescription drug helpline; PHE launches NPS monitoring tool.
6
8
9
UNDER PRESSURE
The celebrity craze for stress pills is even reaching schoolchildren – should we
be concerned? Kevin Flemen looks at the risks of alprazolam, branded as Xanax.
CREATING A FUTURE
Prison can be an opportunity to change deep-rooted behaviour and help people
begin to flourish, say the team at Addaction.
RESOURCES CORNER
George Allan turns to Findings for a comprehensive research resource.
10 SPRINGBOARD FOR SUCCESS
RAPt’s apprenticeship programme is helping people use their experience of
addiction to get back into work, as Nathan Motherwell explains.
11 A CHALLENGING RELATIONSHIP
Solicitor Nicole Ridgwell advises on getting to grips with CQC.
14 MORE CHOICE, MORE OPTIONS
OST is now accepted as a key instrument in enabling recovery. Is improving
choice the next key step, asks DDN.
16 PRISON PERSPECTIVES
A first-person account from the frontline of prison substance misuse services.
17 LETTERS AND COMMENT
Drug-related deaths; recovery opportunities; and Media Savvy.
18 TIME TO TALK
Talking therapies are among many options that fit alongside OST, says Clive Hallam.
20 STUCK IN THE SYSTEM
We’re not taking the massive opportunity for all-round health gains that
hepatitis C treatment offers, DDN hears at the parliamentary group.
21 REFLECTION OF HOPE
Kaleidoscope Project continue their tradition of life-changing support.
Reporter: David Gilliver
e: [email protected]
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t’s never easy to weigh up the level of drug risk based on
America – remember the hysteria over crystal meth a few years
ago, with drug services in the UK gearing up for the scale of
devastation seen in some communities of the US? But with
evidence of cases multiplying and including many young people, we
need to understand the risks of Xanax (alprazolam) and the culture
behind it. Anxiety is starting to be well documented, particularly
among young people, and Xanax’s link with celebrity makes it
difficult to deter experimentation with the drug. Kevin Flemen’s
article (page 6) explains the nature of the threat and what to look
out for.
Throughout the rest of this month’s issue we talk a lot about
prison – including the perspective of a service manager, who until
recently was working at the frontline of prison substance misuse
services. He feels compelled to share experience of clients being
rushed through very intense treatment programmes, and of many
opportunities for holistic interventions being dismissed or
unsupported (page 16).
We can see the results of life-changing interventions through
Addaction’s Trans4orm programme (page 8) and RAPt’s thriving
apprenticeship programme (page 10) – both of which have the
activities that are essential to self-sufficiency and self-esteem at
their heart, and demonstrate results of properly supported
initiatives. The other huge opportunity in investing in engagement
with those in the criminal justice system is, as Charles Gore reminds
us in relation to hepatitis C, to offer life-saving inventions and ‘send
people out of prison better than they went in’.
Claire Brown, editor
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April 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3