Drink and Drugs News DDN July_August 2019 | Page 5

Read the full stories, and more, online
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
PRISON SAFETY UNDER THREAT
FROM RISING NPS USE
increased in ‘every part’ of the closed prison estate, the
THE RISE IN NPS USE IN PRISONS HAS HAD A SERIOUS
report notes, from local prisons to high security
IMPACT ON SAFETY, with increasing rates of violence and
establishments. Boards in almost all local prisons had
self-harm, says the annual report of the Independent
reported significant rises in violence and assaults, and
Monitoring Boards (IMB). As well as their impact on
rates had doubled in Bedford, Belmarsh, Durham and
health and behaviour, drugs have produced an
Wandsworth. Birmingham, meanwhile, had ‘stabilised’ at
‘alternative power structure, based on debt, bullying and
the level of 120 assaults per month.
intimidation of prisoners, their families and sometimes
‘There is no question that IMBs are still reporting
prison staff’, the document states.
some serious and ongoing problems in prisons,’ said
The prison system in England and Wales is now in a
Dame Anne Owers. ‘The decline in safety, conditions and
state of ‘fragile recovery’ following a lengthy period of
purposeful activity in prisons over the last few years has
increased drug use and violence combined with staffing
seriously hampered their ability to rehabilitate prisoners.
problems and inadequate rehabilitation opportunities, it
This will take time to reverse, and will require consistent
says. While some new measures such as the
leadership and management both in the Prison Service
government’s prison drug strategy (DDN, May, page 4)
and the Ministry of Justice, as new staff, policies and
were showing ‘signs of promise’, it was too early to say if
resources bed in.’
they would have any sustained impact, said IMB chair
IMB national annual report 2017/18 at
Dame Anne Owers. There were also significant concerns
www.imb.org.uk
around the number of prisoners with serious mental
health conditions who were being held for
lengthy periods in prison segregation units.
Every prison has an IMB, with boards
across ‘all kinds’ expressing serious concern
about the availability of drugs, particularly
NPS. HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset saw an
average of one NPS-related incident per day
last year, while HMP Humber had an average
of ten per week in 2017. In one month at
HMP Wayland 41 prisoners were under the
influence of NPS, of whom 26 self-harmed
and five needed to be taken to hospital. At
HMP The Mount in Hertfordshire, a drug
recovery wing had to be shut down because
there were ‘too many drugs’ – when it was
moved to another wing, ‘the drugs, bullying
and violence moved with it’.
DAME AnnE oWERs
Incidents of reported violence have also
‘There is no
question that
iMBs are still
reporting some
serious and on -
going problems
in prisons’
LABELLING LAWS FRIDAY FAILINGS
ALCOHOL LABELLING that includes up-
to-date drinking guidelines would be
mandatory under a Labour government,
according to shadow health secretary
Jonathan Ashworth. Despite being
introduced three and a half years ago as
of last year only 16 per cent of people
were aware of the government’s revised
low-risk drinking guidelines (DDN,
February 2018, page 5), with many
products still referring to outdated limits
or having no guideline information at
all. ‘It’s an utter abdication of
responsibility for government to task
the chief medical officer with updating
the guidelines and then not oblige the
industry to display this vital information
on their products,’ Ashworth stated. THE UK’S PRISON SERVICES should take steps
to avoid releasing prisoners with complex
needs on a Friday afternoon, says a report
from ACMD. More than a third of prisoners are
released on Fridays, which makes it more
difficult for them to access drug treatment or
stable housing, says Custody-community
transitions. It also increases the risk of relapse
or overdose, which is particularly high in the
first weeks after release. In 2017-18, just 12
per cent of prisoners with an opioid problem
left prison with naloxone, while more than a
third of prisoners were released without
settled accommodation. ‘It is paramount that
the government makes sure more is done to
help prevent vulnerable people from relapsing
after their release from prison,’ said ACMD
chair Dr Owen Bowden-Jones. Report at
www.gov.uk
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘Abdication of
responsibility...’
JonAThAn AshWoRTh
SEIZING UP
EUROPE IS SEEING RECORD LEVELS OF
SEIZURES of cocaine, says the latest EMCDDA
European drug report. Both the number of
seizures and the quantities seized are at
record levels, with more than 140 tonnes
seized in 2017 – double the previous year’s
total. Fifty-five new NPS were also detected
for the first time in 2018, bringing the total
number being monitored by EMCDDA to 730.
European drug report 2019: trends and
developments at www.emcdda.europa.eu
HALF MEASURES
A REPORT FROM THE MONITORING AND
EVALUATING SCOTLAND’S ALCOHOL STRATEGY
programme (MESAS) shows that the
percentage of alcohol sold below 50p per unit
in Scottish off-licences and supermarkets last
year was half that sold in 2017. Minimum
pricing of 50p per unit was finally introduced
in Scotland last May, following a lengthy legal
battle. Last year also saw the lowest total
volume of pure alcohol sold per adult in
Scotland since records began in the mid-’90s,
at 9.9 litres per week. However, this still
remains almost 10 per cent higher than
figures for England and Wales.
2019 MESAS monitoring report at
www.healthscotland.scot/
WELCOME HELP
THE COUNTRY’S FIRST NHS GAMBLING CLINIC
for children is to open this year, NHS England
has announced. According to the Gambling
Commission, around 55,000 children can be
classed as having a gambling problem, while
450,000 are regular gamblers – a higher
number than those who have drunk alcohol or
taken drugs (DDN, December/January, page
5). The facility will form part of a growing
network of services for people with gambling
issues, including the establishment of up to
14 new clinics.‘This has the potential to be a
major turning point and it is all about making
sure the NHS does everything it can to help
people of all ages who are seriously addicted
to gambling,’ said NHS England’s national
director for mental health, Claire Murdoch.
July/August 2019 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5