INTERVIEW
On the eve of her presentation to the Drugs , Alcohol & Justice APPG , Professor Dame Carol Black talks to DDN about the progress that ’ s been made since the publication of her landmark Independent review of drugs – and her hopes for what happens next
STATE OF PLAY
I
t ’ s now been three and a half years since the second part of Professor Dame Carol Black ’ s Independent review of drugs was published , and while a lot of money has gone into the system since , it ’ s the certainty of future investment that concerns people the most .
Professor Black has always been adamant , however , that investment wouldn ’ t be enough on its own – it would have to go hand-in-hand with system change . So is that something we ’ re starting to see ? ‘ I think we ’ re bringing it about much more slowly than I would ’ ve wished ,’ she tells DDN . ‘ But one of the reasons is because we probably underestimated the level to which the system had been destroyed by previous lack of resources to local authorities .’ She pointed out in 2021 that even the £ 552m the review wanted to see invested in treatment over the next five years would only take things back to 2012 levels . Among the serious long-term issues have been the ‘ changeover to local authorities without sufficient support , and the diminution of the workforce who were disillusioned and left ,’ she says . ‘ I think I thought that once we got the money and the right structures , people would respond enthusiastically and want to go back into addiction work . I thought the culture would change to that of realising you needed a holistic system , but it ’ s taken far longer to bring that about – or to start to bring that about .’
SIGNIFICANT STEPS There have been some significant steps forward , including the establishment of the cross-government Joint Combating Drugs Unit , but to help create a truly holistic system she ’ d wanted to see ‘ proper recovery units ’ in every local authority . ‘ We are getting there ,’ she states . ‘ We ’ ve got the LEROs – they ’ re not as well developed as we want them to be , and not as well supported , but we have commissioning standards for them and we have a framework . So we are setting up a proper recovery community system .’
Some local authorities have ‘ without doubt ’ responded better to the challenges than others , just as some providers have been more supportive than others , she says . ‘ But that ’ s the nature of the beast . When it comes to employment , I wanted IPS [ Individual Placement and Support ] available in every
Above : Professor Dame Carol Black at the Recovery Walk in Hull marking International Recovery Month , in September 2023 . Source : @ DameCarolBlack
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