Drink and Drugs News DDN December 2018 | Página 20

Review of the yeaR
AT THE
cutting
EDGE
DDN looks back at a year that saw cuts continue to bite, deaths continue to rise,
‘county lines’ become headline news – and a G7 country legalise cannabis.
JANUARY
A predictably downbeat start to 2018
as, after years of shrinking budgets,
the latest State of the sector docu ment
warns that the field’s ability to absorb
cuts through efficiency savings and
service redesign has been ‘exhausted’.
The report uncovered ‘worrying signs
that potentially serious damage’ has
been done, says Adfam chief executive
Vivienne Evans. Meanwhile, Release
warns that levels of naloxone
provision by local authorities are
‘chronically inadequate’ and PHE
announces its review of the ‘growing
problem’ of prescription drug
dependency. On a more positive note,
the NHS states that its hepatitis C
strategy could see England become
the first country to eliminate the virus.
must be considered a health issue
first and foremost’ it says, adding that
it had been ‘alarmed’ by rising rates
of drug-related deaths.
MPs warn that ‘significantly greater’
numbers of people will need to be
tested, diagnosed and treated if the
NHS is to meet its hep C elimination
target, and the National Crime Agency
reveals that it is seeing a dramatic
increase in modern slavery cases as a
result of county lines activity, with
referrals of minors up by two thirds
between 2016 and 2017.
FEBRUARY
Get Connected, DDN’s eleventh
annual service user conference, sees
another vibrant day of debate and
networking in Birmingham. In a
measure of how far the event – and
user involvement – has come, SUIT’s
Sonny Dhadley tells delegates that ‘I
can remember coming to a DDN
conference for the first time about a
decade ago, not long out of detox – I
didn’t understand that this world
existed. But if you’re championing
something you believe in, you’ll do
anything to make it happen. There’s
so much energy and potential in
every one of us.’
20 | drinkanddrugsnews | December/January 2019
JULY
MARCH
APRIL
The government announces that its
serious violence strategy will include
a £3.6m county lines coordination
centre, citing the drug trade as an
‘important driver’ of rising incidences
of knife and gun crime. Meanwhile, in
what is seen as a landmark move, the
Royal College of Physicians (RCP)
issues a statement backing drug
decriminalisation. ‘The RCP strongly
supports the view that drug addiction
MAY
In what could help show the way
forward in eliminating hep C, a report
from the London Joint Working Group
(LJWG) reveals that a four-month
community testing pilot project in
pharmacies with needle exchange
facilities has seen 50 per cent of
people testing positive. Significantly,
almost 60 per cent of participants
were also unaware that the virus
could now be treated with oral tablets
rather than interferon. Meanwhile,
minimum pricing finally comes into
force in Scotland after years of legal
wrangles and last month’s 12-step
article by Alex Boyt, ‘All or nothing’,
fills the DDN letters pages with
reactions ranging from ‘brilliant’ to
‘reading this has ruined my day’.
In what is becoming a depressing
annual event, Scotland again records
its highest ever number of drug-
related deaths. The ‘sheer toll’ of
deaths represents a ‘staggering
weight carried by families and
communities and the wider Scottish
nation’, says Scottish Drugs Forum
CEO David Liddell. Drugs are also
behind the ‘huge increase’ in violence
across the prison estate over the last
five years, says the annual report
from the chief inspector of prisons.
Meanwhile the government is urged
to overhaul drinks marketing
legislation as campaigners warn that
social media is creating
‘unprecedented alcohol marketing
opportunities’.
JUNE
EMCDDA’s annual European drug
report identifies the UK as among the
biggest consumers in a ‘buoyant’
cocaine market, with purity levels at
their highest for a decade, while
Kevin Flemen wonders in DDN if the
recent growth in crack use indicates a
move towards social acceptability.
‘I’m probably more anxious about
crack this time around than I have
ever been working in the field,’ he
writes. ‘I hope I’m wrong.’
AUGUST
Following last month’s Scottish
statistics, ONS figures again show
record drug deaths for England and
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