LeT's connecT!
Extracts from DDN’s social media. Have your say by
commenting on our website, Facebook page or tweeting us
Deaths of homeless people are
up. Deaths of homeless people
related to drug poisoning are up. Can
anyone explain why the human cost
has become so unimportant?
Charlotte Hough:
Poverty-related. Mental health care
decimated-related. Social housing
unavailable to the most vulnerable-
related. Austerity-related. Political
mishandling of public finances-related.
Richard Glandfield:
Because most of these people don’t vote
or consume stuff?
Robert McGregor :
If you destroy social care, public housing,
benefits and health this is what you get.
It can't be a surprise. It's an intentional
policy. The deaths are drug-related? No,
they are deprivation- related.
In response to ‘Agents of
Change’, DDN, September,
page 6
Wayne Davidson:
When released with no job, no
accommodation, no purpose, but one
thing they do make sure you leave with
is your methadone prescription – they at
least make sure you have direction. Took
me 22 years to get my self out of the
addiction-offending-prison-methadone
cycle all against advice of drug and
alcohol services.
Andreana Sutherland:
It's not ethical for doctors to leave
people suffering. Responsible
prescribing can prevent a lot of misuse.
Doctors rarely prescribe drugs that really
help through the final stages of detox
due to fears and stigma around the
whole issue of addicts and addiction.
Kelly-Marie Nettleton:
Portugal set a fine example.
In response to ‘Scots drug
death taskforce up and
running’ (DDN website):
Glen Carpenter:
Legalise, regulate, consumption rooms
and job’s a good 'un. The millions spent
on ‘harm reduction’ is being funnelled
into the CJ system focusing on the
supply lines which is completely
ineffective and doing more harm
than good
Andrea London :
Stop cutting funding to drug services
/DDNMagazine @DDNMagazine
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
have your say:
DDn conference 2020
We are now planning the next DDN conference, and we need your help. We want
to make 2020 an even more interactive experience for all of our delegates, and we
need to know what you want to hear about and talk about.
With the fantastic exhibition area at the centre of the event and more intimate
workshops and learning opportunities than ever before, this one-day event is a
unique opportunity to ensure that your voice is heard. Held in Birmingham next
spring, this will be a vital opportunity to share what is working, highlight what
isn’t, and work together to build better and fairer treatment for all.
Please take a moment to give us some feedback on past events, and let us know
what you want from the conference – what issues are important to you, speakers
you’d like to see, and suggestions for presentations.
Find out more and get involved at www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
MEDIA SAVVY
The news, and the skews, in the national media
PRESCRIPTIONS
FOR OPIOID-
BASED
PAINKILLERS have
increased by more
than 60 per cent in
the past decade…
With this in mind,
people are
inevitably
comparing the
situation here with
the epidemic
across the pond.
Let’s be clear,
opioid prescribing is monitored
much more closely in the UK than
in the US, meaning the situation
here is nowhere near as severe. But
that doesn’t mean we should
become complacent in the face of
what is clearly a growing issue.
Rachel Britton, Independent ,
10 September
PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH CHRONIC
PAIN can become defensive if asked
to consider weaning themselves off
drugs that they’re dependent on.
Suggesting to someone who feels
paralysed by pain that they need to
get out for a walk can sound
offensive, patronising and uncaring.
It’s certainly not a binary choice;
opioid and other pain-relieving
drugs have their place. But
prescribing is out of control and
cannot continue at these levels.
There are difficult conversations to
be had at all levels of our health
service, right down to the intimate
exchanges that happen between
GP and patient.
Ann Robinson, Guardian ,
15 September
A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF THE
PROBLEM IS THAT GPS FEEL BOTH
ASHAMED AND EMBARRASSED
that patients have become hooked
on medications that they have
prescribed, so they simply avoid
facing up to it. It’s an awkward
truth that sometimes the pills we
dish out can cause more problems
than they ever solve. Yet doctors,
increasingly left frazzled by the
‘Prescribing is out
of control and
cannot continue
at these levels...’
growing pressure they are put
under, are still all-too-willing to
reach for the prescription pad when
confronted by a patient with
complex psychological issues.
Max Pemberton, Mail ,
10 September
ONE THING IS CLEAR: while those
sitting in jail for weed may be
black, when cannabis legalisation
eventually hits our shores, it will be
dominated by white men in suits.
Zoe Smith, Independent ,
8 September
THE ONCE POORLY UNDERSTOOD
PHENOMENON OF COUNTY LINES
drug dealing is taking firmer shape
in terms of public policy and also of
awareness. The emerging picture is
disturbing even to those familiar
with the most destructive
consequences of illegal drugs…
There is no point in pretending that
there is any quick fix. But a sensible
first step would be for the
government to put youth services
on a statutory footing – and to fund
councils properly to deliver them.
Guardian editorial, 16 September
October 2019 | drinkanddrugsnews | 15