OR ACTION
‘Water’ could mean ‘tap water,
bottled water, puddle water, surface
water on cars, water from toilet
cisterns, whisky, cider, coca cola,
saliva, lemon juice’, she stated.
Sunny Dhadley, representing
Anyone’s Child, spoke about his
journey from a life of problem
drug use to his work as a
freelance consultant and his time
developing a peer-led service in
Wolverhampton. Current drug
policy was ‘unfair, immoral and
unethical’ and was ‘harming far
more people than it ever should’,
he said. Dr Steve Taylor, consultant
at Birmingham Heartlands HIV
Service, then offered an update on
the new HIV testing taking place on
an outreach basis targeting hard to
reach communities.
‘We’ve never had so many
people on the streets in
wheelchairs,’ said Sue McCutcheon
from Birmingham & Solihull
Mental Health Foundation Trust,
as she spoke about her work
providing outreach healthcare
to the city’s homeless and
rough sleeping populations.
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM
Perhaps the most
important part of
the day was the call
to action to raise
support for the
inclusion of drug
treatment services
in the Health and
Social Care Act
She powerfully described the
challenges of her work and the rise
in infections and viruses among
the people she treats, many of
whom are using a variety of drugs
but are not engaged with any drug
treatment services.
James Pierce is writing in a
personal capacity as an NNEF member
There might
be a greater
moral claim for
considering the
health effects of
men’s drinking
on women.
THE MOTIVATIONS and makeup
of the temperance movement
are more complicated than their
simplified legacy would suggest.
Rather than a regressive movement
consumed with moralist disdain
for alcohol use, many of its
most ardent supporters wanted
alcohol banned for a much more
practical reason: women’s safety.
Drunk men, they observed, were
more likely to sexually assault
women, more likely to beat their
wives and children, and more
likely to subject passing women
to sexual harassment… While
contemporary concerns about
the health impacts of drinking
focus on the damage done to
the drinker – the impact, say, on
his liver, brain, and heart – there
might be a greater moral claim
for considering the health effects
of men’s drinking on women.
What is the price that women
pay in enduring sexual violence,
sexual harassment and domestic
violence, for men’s good time?
Moira Donegan, Guardian,
3 January
APART FROM THE FACT that
tightening controls on GHB
would unlikely deter those who
use it to date rape, doing so
would again divert attention
away from the more common
chemical culprit in rape cases.
Now would be an opportunistic
moment for the home secretary
to draw attention to the role
alcohol plays in sexual assault
– but given the long-standing
and cosy relationship between
the alcohol industry and
government (both red and
blue), that’s unlikely. Until that
relationship breaks down, sexual
assaults facilitated by alcohol
will continue.
Ian Hamilton, Independent,
8 January
IF ALCOHOL had been discovered
in the past year or two, it would
be illegal. The safe limit, if you
applied current food-standards
criteria, would be one glass of
wine a year. Would you take
a new drug if you were told it
would increase your risk of cancer,
dementia and heart disease, or
that it shortened your life? You
wouldn’t touch it. Yet over the
past 50 years, alcohol has become
entrenched in our lives.
David Nutt, Mail, 4 January
WE NEED GPS, employers and
policymakers pushing for change
as much as we need the public
to accept that addicts are not
trying to be difficult. They are
not trying to break the law. They
are not trying to drain health
service resources. They are
trying to stay alive. At the end
of the day, if we hate the idea
of addiction so much because
of its impact in society, then I
believe the only way we can get
rid of it is to show compassion
to addicts. You might not be able
to step in their shoes, but think
about it – would anyone choose
a life of fear and pain?
Lucy Nicol, Independent,
20 January
FEBRUARY 2020 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • 13