Drink and Drugs News DDN September 2018_V2 | Page 3

Keep in touch with us via Facebook and Twitter! /DDNMagazine @DDNMagazine Contents editor’s letter ON THE COVER ‘The call for support on gambling has to be heard’ Why is gambling treatment still a lottery? p6 4 NEWS Record drug deaths for England and Wales; #StopTheDeaths launches in Scotland. 6 IN A SPIN Owen Baily struggles with gambling addiction – and accessing treatment. 8 LETTERS AND COMMENT Problems shared and referral routes. 9 NO QUICK FIX We need to rethink our relationship with pain, says Dr Simone Yule. 10 EXCHANGE A personalised approach to cannabinoid use; supporting chemsex loved ones; improving help for older drinkers. 12 IN SAFER HANDS Mike Ward on the tricky issues raised by the Mental Capacity Act. 13 CLINICAL EYE Being a nurse can mean facing some difficult decisions, says Ishbel Straker. 14 IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE There are key ways to impress CQC inspectors, says David Finney. 15 MOVING PICTURES This year’s Recovery Street Film Festival entries were a winning bunch. 16 HEIGHT OF AWARENESS Lee Collingham and Mat Southwell on boosting community naloxone provision. 17 THE DARKEST MUSE Mark Reid on the long relationship between writers and the bottle. DDN is published by CJ Wellings Ltd, Romney House, School Road, Ashford, Kent TN27 0LT t: 0845 299 3429 www.drinkanddrugsnews.com Editor: Claire Brown e: [email protected] Subscriptions: e: [email protected] Advertising manager: Ian Ralph e: [email protected] website: www.drinkanddrugsnews.com Reporter: David Gilliver e: [email protected] Designer: Jez Tucker e: [email protected] Website support by wiredupwales.com Printed on environmentally friendly paper by the Manson Group Ltd Y ou’re in the casino chasing the big win. Everything you ever wanted could be yours. The wheel spins and the ball jumps from red to black to red to black... you’ve risked everything... so what if the unthinkable happens? Owen’s story (page 6) gives valuable insight into this potentially problematic recreation, adding to last month’s gambling feature that many of you found useful. The call for support has to be heard and incorporated more widely into our treatment system so we can offer help at the first sign of struggle. The theme of peer-to-peer expertise runs deep through this month’s issue. Local user groups are networking with naloxone initiatives (page 16), while EuroNPUD are rolling out a far-reaching overdose prevention project. We’ll follow its progress with interest. Three minutes isn’t long to tell your story, particularly when you need to convey the significance of the ‘lightbulb moment’ when you decided to do things differently. But that’s exactly what entrants to this year’s Recovery Street Film Festival achieved (page 15). Each film was astonishingly powerful and I would urge you to visit the YouTube channel and watch them for yourself. Any one of them would demonstrate the case for investment in drug and alcohol services. We hope you’ve had a good summer. As the autumn approaches it’s time to start planning in earnest for the next DDN conference – the best place ever for peer-to-peer networking. Put 21 February in your diary and please join the consultation through our website! Claire Brown, editor Keep in touch at www.drinkanddrugsnews.com and @DDNmagazine Cover by poba / iStock DDN is an independent publication, entirely funded by advertising. Proud to work in partnership with: CJ Wellings Ltd does not accept respon si bility for the accuracy of state ments made by contri bu t ors or advertisers. The contents of this magazine are the copyright of CJ Wellings Ltd, but do not necess arily represent its views, or those of its partner organisations. September 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3