DDN_March_2024 DDN March 2024 | Page 4

NEWS ROUND-UP

Funding certainty vital for drug strategy aims , warns commons committee

Progress towards achieving the government ’ s drug strategy objectives risks being wasted without funding certainty for local authorities , says a report from the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC ).

The fact that the government has only committed to funding until 2024-25 will make it difficult for councils to ‘ rebuild ’ the treatment workforce , it says . ‘ The PAC is disappointed that government departments seem unwilling to explore how to provide local authorities with more confidence over long-term funding ,’ it states .
Efforts to reduce drugrelated harm were seeing ‘ mixed ’ progress , according to the committee . The report welcomes the achievement in recruitment so far , with more than 1,200 new drug and alcohol workers already recruited by last year against a target of 950 by 2024-25 ( DDN , November 2023 , page 4 ), but finds ‘ less progress in reducing drug use and related harms ’. The 80 per
cent increase in drug-related deaths in the decade to 2021 was unacceptable , it states , with the sharp rise in drug use among younger people also ‘ particularly concerning ’. Although the latest OHID figures show a 10 per cent increase in the number of young people in contact with treatment services ( DDN , February , page 4 ), the number fell by 50 per cent between 2010-11 and 2021-22 , the report states .
Annual spending on treatment services fell by 40 per cent in real terms between 2014- 15 and 2021-22 , a ‘ significant erosion of councils ’ capacity and capability to deliver in this area ’, and creating variations in local outcomes that have yet to be properly addressed . ‘ Despite high drug use in particular amongst young people , the government ’ s strategy makes little reference to age , gender , ethnicity , or how people with different characteristics may experience drug misuse and treatment ,’ says the committee .
‘ As with our previous alcohol treatment services report , our
committee is having to remind government that local authorities need long-term certainty to carry out what is some of the most challenging treatment there is to provide ,’ said committee chair Dame Meg Hillier MP . ‘ Some progress has been made , in particular in recruiting 1,200 new alcohol and drug workers and bearing down on county lines drugs supply . But deaths continue to rise , drug use showed no reduction in the last ten years , and the harm caused
' Our committee is having to remind government that local authorities need long-term certainty to carry out what is some of the most challenging treatment there is to provide .'
DAME MEG HILLIER
by illegal drugs is growing . The government must now dig deep and prove that it is serious about delivering the long-term change implicit in its own strategy .’
Reducing the harm from illegal drugs at https :// committees . parliament . uk / work / 7920 / reducing-the-harm-from-illegaldrugs / publications /
Richard Townshend

Women ’ s commissioning

THE CENTRE FOR JUSTICE INNOVATION has produced a new commissioning guide as a follow-up to its report on women ’ s experience of drug and alcohol services ( DDN , Dec-Jan , page 7 ). ‘ Flexibility in contracts , accredited traumainformed workforce training and women-only spaces are crucial elements in fostering gender-sensitive treatment within mixed-gender services ,’ it states .
While gender-specific treatment options should be aspired to they are ‘ not always possible ’, the guide acknowledges , in which case co-location and outreach enable ‘ joined-up , holistic support that better meets women ’ s needs within mixedgendered services ’. Women with lived and living experience should be involved throughout the full commissioning cycle and ‘ their voices embedded into the delivery of drug and alcohol treatment ’, it adds . Guide at https :// justiceinnovation . org /

Coughing up

CODEINE COUGH SYRUP is to be reclassified as a prescriptiononly medicine , the MHRA has announced , as a result of its ‘ risk of abuse , dependency and overdose ’. Codeine linctus is an opioid medicine used as an oral solution or syrup for treating dry coughs , and has previously been available to buy under the supervision of a pharmacist . Following a consultation with almost 100 healthcare professionals , patients and independent experts , however , it will now only be available on prescription after assessment by a medical professional .
A report from ACMD has also recommended that the non-opioid tranquiliser xylazine should be made a class C substance . While approved for use as a sedative , muscle relaxant and analgesic in veterinary medicine , xylazine is ‘ increasingly being used illicitly by humans internationally and in the UK ’, the report states .
The drug is often combined with fentanyl in the US as ‘ tranq ’ or ‘ tranq dope ’, with the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) issuing an alert related to the increased prevalence of overdose deaths involving xylazine in 2022 .
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • MARCH 2024 WWW . DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS . COM