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Cover story | Caroline Flint Interview
service users themselves must be impressed –
or at the very least, interested that what’s on
offer might work for them.
There’s an element of ‘one last chance’,
which she’s determined to prove.
‘I’ve met drug users – and former drug users
for that matter – who feel that they are passed
from pillar to post. It’s not that there’s been a
shortage of agencies and intervention in their
lives… police, social services, treatment
providers… it’s just been very fragmented.
‘They can be passed from one agency to
another, information isn’t shared, issues that
are important aren’t attended to, there’s no
follow-up. Is there any wonder that, at the end
of the day, there isn’t any successful conclusion
to treatment?’
It’s early days for the DIP, both in her own
constituency and in the country as a whole, but
Flint is convinced it’s working.
‘We’re seeing early indications that crime
levels are going down in intervention areas,’ she
says. ‘Some of these people might have been in
treatment before, but it hasn’t been joined up…
there haven’t been the wraparound support
services to sustain them,’ she says.
Feedback from those in treatment has
convinced the minister that efforts are
worthwhile. ‘I’ve met people in Doncaster and
elsewhere, who have been through this process,
and they say it’s the best thing that’s ever
happened to them.’
A positive reaction from parents whose
children had been involved in drugs was further
encouragement: ‘It was good to hear from them
that this scheme is making a difference.’
From its early beginnings, the DIP has now
reached phase two. Still plotted on the basis of
levels of drug-related crime, it now covers 66
areas of the country. If it is still found to be
effective – ‘and it does seem to be working and
having an effect, in terms of getting people into
treatment and bringing crime levels down’,
according to Flint – the home office and partner
agencies will be looking to expand the scheme
elsewhere.
And ‘we are also working upstream, on
people who bring drugs into distribution,’ she
adds. But while it is crime which is the
fundamental driver behind the drugs strategy,
Flint also acknowledges the importance of
wider health and social benefits of tackling
drug use and of treating drug users as people,
in spite of her comment about 'mini crime
waves'.
When asked if there is sufficient emphasis
on treatment for people with alcohol problems,
Flint is quick to draw attention to the
government’s Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy,
launched in March this year – though again the
main focus here is on crime.
Two pilot programmes are in the pipeline,
recently given the green light by the Home
www.drinkanddrugs.net
Secretary. ‘We are looking at applying the
intervention programme that we’re currently
doing for illegal drugs, and seeing if the
programme could be adapted for people for
whom alcohol abuse and substance misuse is a
real problem and a factor behind their crime.’
And there is the audit of existing alcohol
treatment services, results of which will be
available early next year, which will be used to
help ensure that there are sufficient services
available to meet the needs of people with
alcohol problems.
And as well as treatment, Flint points out
that the alcohol strategy includes working with
'the licensing trade, local authorities and others,
to try and tackle to problems that excessive
drinking causes within our communities'.
Flint also sees sense in encouraging the Drug
Action Teams (DATs) to develop as Drug and
Alcohol Action Teams (DAATs).
‘I think there is common ground on what the
issues are – how drugs, legal and illegal, can
sometimes take over your life,’ she says.
So what does the minister think of the
Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis’s recently
declared ‘hard line on drugs’ and his pledged
ten-fold increase in residential rehabilitation
places, to justify the choice of rehabilitation or
the criminal justice system?
‘Well, there are a couple of things I’d say,’ she
answers in measured tones.
‘I think you have to have a thought-out
strategy on links between drugs and crime. We
need to have an approach to strategy that
understands the issues behind what causes
people to commit those crimes.’
The present government, she points out, ‘are
putting record amounts of money into funding
not only the treatment side, but also the criminal
justice side, making these programmes work.’
Flint refers again to the DIP as evidence of
breaking the links between drugs and crime,
‘stopping the revolving doors for people who
have been on drugs’.
‘It’s very easy to say “we’re going to set up x
number of residential rehabilitation places” and
I would like to see treatment places grow,’ she
says. ‘But at the same time, while residential
treatment is very important for some people,
and essential for some people, at the end of the
day, people don’t spend the whole of their life
in residential treatment. They have to come out,
have to come back into the community, and
unless you have the support services in the
community, residential treatment won’t have
the success that we want it to have. I think
that’s an important area that is missing from
the Shadow Home Secretary’s analysis of what
is a very complex and difficult area.’
Flint obviously feels that her colleague is
missing the point of joined-up thinking and the
holistic approach, and she warns against
alienating those involved.
‘What’s going on outside treatment
support can affect the success of
treatment. If somebody is involved
in a substitute subscribing program-
me, but they’ve got nowhere to live,
or something else is going wrong in
their personal lives, if there are
children involved in the family…
these are all things that can affect
the success of any drug treatment.’
‘People working in agencies, working with
people with drug problems want to know that
there is a thought-out strategy and that there
are real resources to sustain not only treatment,
but the support services that are needed in our
communities. And that’s really important.’
While seeing some merit in random drug
testing in schools, Flint is also cautious about
taking this too far.
‘It’s down to schools to decide,’ she says,
suggesting that if the school thinks there is a
serious problem they need to address, they
should look at a range of options.
While acknowledging that ‘we need to know
where there are children who may be misusing
drugs, and where there are young people who
are actively dealing in drugs’, she resists a diktat:
‘I don’t think that I as a minister can say you
should do this… I think each school has to decide.
Flint is anxious too that schools know in
advance what they plan to do with the results
of such tests, and what the outcome will be for
the child involved.
‘If they do find someone has a substance
misuse problem, how are schools going to
tackle it? What is the outcome going to be of
anything they might discover as a result of
test? That’s very important.’
Flint’s approach is consultative: she told the
FDAP conference last month, that to make
progress the government needed to have
feedback on whether new resources are making
a difference. Whatever the Intervention
Programme is named, there will certainly be
plenty of people involved who are willing to
comment. DD
Coming soon in Drink and Drugs News:
David Davis on plans for Tory spending
on drink and drugs issues.
What’s your view?
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email [email protected]
1 November 2004 | drinkanddrugsnews | 9