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Contents
editor’s letter
ON THE COVER
‘Who can offer the political
leadership the sector needs?
A sector in crisis
4
NEWS
National Crime Agency issues fentanyl warning; Trump steps up ‘war on drugs’.
6
ON BORROWED TIME
The delayed drug strategy – and lack of plan for an alcohol strategy – is pulling
the lifeline from a sector in crisis, hears DDN.
8
ON A MISSION
Let’s get on with curing hepatitis C, says Dee Cunniffe.
10 BOLD MOVES
Drug policy is not fit for purpose – time to try something new, says Norman Lamb.
10 LETTERS AND COMMENT
The Mulberry Project in search of altruism; Media Savvy gives the news and
skews; letters on Xanax, talking therapies and patient choice.
12 VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
DDN talks to Karen Biggs about Phoenix Future’s new strategy.
14 STAY AHEAD OF CQC
David Finney gives you the key issues to deal with your inspection.
15 CLINICAL EYE
Our new columnist Ishbel Straker gives a nursing perspective.
15 BOOK REVIEW
Mark Reid reviews a A Life of Thomas de Quincy by Frances Wilson.
16 GET IN ON THE ACT
Mark Webster explains ACT Peer Recovery, a new form of mutual aid.
18 THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
The ‘recovery agenda’ is failing, says Howard King.
20 A DIFFERENT PAIN
James Elander shares his new research on painkiller addiction.
21 SLOW ON THE DRAW
Why are smokers slow to change to e-cigarettes, asks Neil McKeganey.
Reporter: David Gilliver
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Editor: Claire Brown
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H
ogwash and purdah – it’s election season again and where
is the long-awaited drug strategy? The pages of this issue
will tell you that we need change, but unlike many of the
party political broadcasts they are specific about what’s wrong and
what must change.
From funding to commissioning to ‘recovery outcomes’ there is
a sense that we are getting it wrong – and that politicians are
refusing to listen. The evidence from within the sector comes down
to one key question that is hard to ignore: why are politicians
happy to condone a treatment system that costs so much but,
despite the best efforts of those working in it, delivers so little?
Whichever way you look at it, drug deaths are at their highest since
records began and the toll of death and illness related to alcohol is
just massive.
Our contributors are united in their condemnation of constant
retendering, and the plea ‘enough!’ has been heard many times
recently on these pages. The costly process has driven organisations
out of business, treatment workers out of the sector, and cost how
many lives? In the two years that it takes for a new provider to take
over, clients are disconnected, lost – and possibly dead.
Over the past few years we have lost the post of ‘drugs minister’
– the named person who used to interact with the sector and shape
policy from its expertise. A little bit of policy from this department
and a little from that is doing nothing to bring the dynamism,
accountability and results that this sector so desperately needs.
Will this election offer a lifeline from any side?
Claire Brown, editor
Keep in touch at www.drinkanddrugsnews.com and @DDNmagazine
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May 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3