‘ A person addicted to class A drugs is a mini crime wave .’

HOW TO GET THE DRUGS OUT OF CRIME

‘ It was primarily to try to break the cycle between drugs and crime that led the Labour administration to develop the national drugs strategy , first published in 1998 and updated in 2002 – and which has fuelled a significant increase in funding for both treatment and prevention initiatives …

‘ Flint points out that effective treatment for people with drug problems requires not only more and better services – the initial focus of the government ’ s approach to treatment – but also a more joined-up approach between agencies , a key element of the new Drug Intervention Programme ( DIP ) initiative ( the renamed Criminal Justice Intervention Programme ).’

I thought , “ well , what do you do now ? Right , people set their alarms don ’ t they ?” So I did that . The feeling was so strange . It was also a strange feeling when I stopped using heroin and became aware again of simple things , like the taste of food , birds singing and springtime .’

are tackling is enormous . As far as I could see there are plenty of people who want to become involved in tackling substance misuse problems but don ’ t know how to get involved . They need something to which they can belong and contribute .’

David Clark went on to write a brilliant series of Background Briefings giving insights into all aspects of addiction – all available in our website archive .

Drugs minister Caroline Flint talks to DDN about drug and alcohol strategy …

‘ Caroline Flint ’ s experience as MP for Don Valley leads her to the view that “ a person addicted to class A drugs is a mini crime wave ”. She argues that stealing and begging have become inextricably linked with feeding a drug habit , and points to the high positive drugs test rate among those arrested for acquisitive crime …

A ‘ NEW NORMAL ’

Natalie realised heroin addiction was ruining her life and began treatment , starting with a detox …

‘ It was strange trying to reestablish a ‘ normal ’ life . I was so used to gouching out every night in my clothes that I had forgotten the process of going to bed . I was thinking one night , “ well , what do you do ? You must put your nighty on .” It ’ d been so long since I ’ d done that . I put my nighty on and I got in bed and

WORLD OF WIRED

Prof David Clark explained his grassroots initiative WIRED , which pioneered merging real world activities with a high profile web based communication system …

‘ I knew that WIRED has to be involved in both virtual and real world activities , fostering a strong grass roots initiative which has long-term continuity and stability . My vision was big – very naively so – but then what we

MAKING THE CODE

Simon Shepherd , chief exec of the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals ( FDAP ) on launching a new code of practice for the sector …

‘ Traditionally there has been a view that people with ongoing drug or alcohol problems should not work in this field .