STAYING STRONG IN PARTNERSHIP
UPFRONT
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IN THIS ISSUE
ON THE COVER – Inspecting stigma 10
Power
imbalance
6
NSP crisis
INSIDE
4 NEWS Record synthetic opioid seizure ; DCRs ‘ key intervention ’ says EMCDDA
8 FACING PREJUDICE NHS APA in action
12 FAMILY FOCUS Challenging stigma with Adfam
14 ADVOCACY Support with ‘ street benzos ’ 16 HEAR MY TRUTH ! Hit Hot Topics 18 YOUR SHOUT Letters 19 CAREERS Social work in partnership 24 LOOKING BACK Review of 2023
Drug deaths are everyone ’ s business
20 22
STAYING STRONG IN PARTNERSHIP
Season ’ s Greetings
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‘ It ’ s our job to override debillitating stigma ’
The number of women dying a drug-related death has risen by almost 80 per cent in a decade – yet the number of women seeking treatment has remained about the same ( p6 ). If you need any more reasons to challenge stigma , read on through this month ’ s issue .
‘ Addiction thrives on isolation , and the remedy is human connection ,’ said Dan Carden MP at the NHS APA conference ( p8 ). This connection is equally important to families trying to support their loved ones , who describe the stigma towards them as ‘ like being labelled with a big invisible sign ’ ( p12 ).
It ’ s our job to override debilitating circumstances that are fuelled by stigma . The pragmatic response to the shortage of needle and syringe programmes ( p20 ) shows that swift and certain collaborative action is effective in carving a path to harm reduction . So let ’ s be just as clear about our one-to-one treatment obligations , including challenging any suggestion of coercive control ( p10 ).
When there ’ s a crisis headlined by an increase in drug-related deaths , we ’ re capable of collaboration to rise to the challenge ( p22 ) – let ’ s be equally proactive across the board . Season ’ s greetings to you all , and here ’ s to 2024 . Claire Brown , editor www . drinkanddrugsnews . com and @ DDNmagazine
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