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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.
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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
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September 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3