JULY

‘ The chances of political time and energy being focused on addressing alcohol and drug treatment are negligible,’ Collective Voice head Paul Hayes writes in DDN as he considers Brexit’ s implications for the sector. While this may be useful in preventing‘ renewed ideological attacks’ in the short term, he says, the sector needs to come together to‘ find a new narrative, as persuasive to local authorities as previous harm reduction and crime-led narratives have been to central government’.

AUGUST

Another bleak milestone for Scotland as the country records its highest ever level of drug-related deaths for the third year in a row. With over 700 fatalities in 2015 – nearly two per day, and more than double the figure from a decade ago – the statistics are‘ a national tragedy’ and‘ the ultimate indicators’ of the country’ s entrenched health inequalities, says Scottish Drugs Forum chief David Liddell. More than 300 NGOs sign an open letter to the UN’ s drug control bodies urging them to call for an immediate stop to the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines by president Duterte.

SEPTEMBER

Hot on the heels of last month’ s grim figures from Scotland, the ONS reveals that the number of heroin-related deaths in England and Wales has doubled in the space of four years, to

more than 1,200. The highest number of deaths, for the third year running, are in the North East, while in the Philippines more than 3,000 people are now thought to have fallen victim to Duterte’ s‘ war on drugs’.

OCTOBER

The Glasgow City Joint Integration Board approves the development of a business case for the UK’ s first consumption room, along with provision of heroin-assisted

treatment, generating predictably outraged headlines in some newspapers. Meanwhile, France opens its first consumption room in Paris, with another to follow in Strasbourg.

NOVEMBER

As the world digests the news that Donald Trump is to become the 45th US president, another set of American voting results see recreational cannabis legalised in four more states, including California.

DECEMBER

A year that many people will be keen to see the back of draws to a close, and still no sign of the 2016 Drug Strategy. However, preparations are well under way for DDN’ s milestone tenth annual service user conference. With drug-related deaths continuing to rise and resources diminishing, the need for strong, targeted, effective service user involvement has never been stronger. Join us in Birmingham and let’ s make a difference!

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December 2016 | drinkanddrugsnews | 7