Drink and Drugs News DDNNovember2004 | Page 3

p03 editor/contents.qxd 29/10/04 8:48 pm Page 3 Published by 1 November 2004 On behalf of F EDERATION OF D RUG AND A LCOHOL P ROFESSIONALS Editor’s letter The 21st Century approach to tackling substance misuse Drink and Drugs News in partnership with: European Association for the Treatment of Addiction Welcome to our very first issue of Drink and Drugs News! Brought to you by the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Professionals and Wired, the magazine will give you a round-up of what’s going on, who’s saying what, and the latest issues for debate, every fortnight. You’ll see that we’ve teamed up with the partner organisations listed on this page to bring news and features from very different perspectives. The other part of the equation, to make this magazine a successful communication tool, is you. The magazine will work best if you let us know what’s happening in your workplace and region. Let us know your experiences with clients, and practical solutions that will help other readers. This issue we catch up with Caroline Flint at the Home Office, who shares some interesting thoughts on drugs and crime. On the professional side, we summarise FDAP’s revised code of practice, which gives some helpful advice on those less than clear work situations. But we’re not all about the official side of work. Natalie’s story (page 6) and Dave’s ‘day in the life’ (page 12) illustrate what we’re all about: demonstrating that treatment and support services can, and most definitely do, make a real and lasting difference to people’s lives. We hope you enjoy this issue – but we’d be the first to recognise that we’re not there yet. It’ll take time to make sure the magazine’s representative of your work and informative to those working in the fields linking yours, whether in a treatment agency, social services, a needle exchange, prison and probation services, health service or social housing. It’s been a hectic few months getting ready for our launch and there have been many late nights compiling the mailing list. If you work with someone who should be on it, please let us know and we’ll add them for the next issue. Last, but not least, please write! Your letters will make Drink and Drugs News a lively forum for debate. Editor: Claire Brown t: 020 7463 2164 e: claire@cjwellings.com In this issue Advertising Manager: Ian Ralph t: 020 7463 3581 e: ian@cjwellings.com Designer: Jez Tucker e: jez@cjwellings.com Drugs and Alcohol Today Subscriptions: e: subs@cjwellings.com Events: CJ Wellings Ltd, FDAP and WIRED do not accept responsibility for the accuracy of statements made by contributors or advertisers. The contents of this magazine are the copyright of CJ Wellings Ltd, but do not necessarily represent its views, or those of FDAP, WIRED and its partner organisations. www.drinkanddrugs.net News Roundup Reaching the hard to reach – FDAP’s annual conference | Treatment funding from the Scottish Executive | Research on IDU infection from the Health Protection Agency | Mentor Conference calls for more 4 family support Interview cover story How to get the drugs out of crime Caroline Flint MP talks about the sustained support option, in breaking the 8 drug crime cycle. e: office@fdap.org.uk Features Making the code Website: How I became... www.drinkanddrugs.net Website maintained by Ash Whitney of Wired-up Wales Natalie describes her route to heroin addiction... and the beginning of her 6 pathway out FDAP’s revised code of practice gives practical advice for every tricky scenario in 10 the substance misuse field. Diary 12 Published by CJ Wellings Ltd Up close: WIRED A day in the life of... Printed on environmentally friendly paper by the Manson Group Ltd Real world meets web communication at its best, to help poople tackle substance misuse. David Clark gives the story behind 7 the WIRED initiative. Dave Watkins, treatment agency community support worker Cover pic by Andy Paraskos Events 13 1 November 2004 | drinkanddrugsnews | 3