REVIEW
CASH STRAPPED CHRISTMAS
Battered by Brexit, the public goes to the polls yet again. In the
treatment sector, meanwhile, more long-established facilities
are forced to close their doors as the funding crisis goes on.
JANUARY
The year starts with a warning
from the National Crime Agency
that more and more children
and vulnerable adults are being
exploited by county lines gangs,
an issue that would remain in the
headlines throughout 2019.
FEBRUARY
Alcohol-related hospital admissions
in England are up 15 per cent in
a decade, says the NHS, while
Birmingham plays host to Keep On
Moving, the 12th DDN service user
conference. ‘Every single person
sitting in this room makes people
like me look good,’ Turning Point
chief executive Victor Adebowale
tells delegates. ‘You’re the people
with frontline understanding.’
MARCH
Funding pressures see City
Roads close after 40 years, while
Release warns that the amounts
of naloxone being provided by
local authorities and prisons are
‘drastically insufficient’. PHE and
the Home Office, meanwhile, report
a ‘statistically significant’ increase
in crack use, driven in part by
aggressive marketing.
APRIL
The government launches its three-
year strategy to tackle gambling-
related harm, while the NHS strikes
a ‘world-leading’ deal with drug
companies to work together to
eradicate hep C.
MAY
Scotland’s drug-related death
statistics are released, and yet again
the number is the highest ever
recorded. Ed Day is appointed the
first ever drug recovery champion.
JUNE
The number of over-40s in
treatment for opiate use has
26 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • DEC 2019-JAN 2020
tripled since 2006 says the ACMD,
while the Global Commission
on Drug Policy states that
international drug classification
continues to be influenced by
‘ideology, political gains and
commercial interests’.
JULY
Broadreach House becomes the
latest residential facility to close
its doors through lack of funding,
while ex UKDPC boss Roger
Howard pens an open letter to the
new drug recovery champion in
DDN. ‘First, ditch any idea that you
can make any significant impact
on local collaboration,’ he advises.
AUGUST
The Children’s Society warns that
children as young as seven are
being targeted by county lines
gangs and, three months after
Scotland’s figures, ONS announces
another record-breaking drug
death toll south of the border.
SEPTEMBER
PHE’s long-awaited prescription
medicines review finds that
more than 11m people are being
prescribed potentially addictive
drugs – up to a third of them for
three years or more. Meanwhile
an LJWG report warns that data
sharing will need to be radically
improved if the hep C elimination
target is really going to be met.
OCTOBER
A report from the Health and Social
Care Committee states that drug
policy is ‘clearly failing’ and should
be radically overhauled, while
ONS figures show that two in five
deaths of homeless people are
now drug-related. Nick Goldstein
tells DDN readers that Brexit could
mean even more cuts for drug
services – ‘there isn’t much salami
left to slice,’ he warns.
The year starts with
a warning from
the National Crime
Agency that more
and more children
and vulnerable
adults are being
exploited by county
lines gangs, an issue
that would remain
in the headlines
throughout 2019.
NOVEMBER
After the summer’s bleak drug-
related death statistics, NHS
Digital figures show that hospital
admissions for poisoning by drug
misuse have risen by 16 per cent
since 2013. The Scottish Affairs
Committee becomes the second
group of MPs in a fortnight to
call for an overhaul of drug laws,
while DDN celebrates its fifteenth
anniversary with a brand-new look.
DECEMBER
On the day DDN goes to press
Britons are dragging themselves
to the polling booths for the third
general election within five years,
while research commissioned by
GambleAware finds that 68 per
cent of 20-year-olds had taken part
in some form of gambling in the
previous year. Meanwhile, the DDN
team is hard at work putting together
the line-up for next year’s service user
conference – watch this space!
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