Drug action teams in England are not referring enough addicts to residential treatment schemes, it has been claimed.
Drugs schemes 'have empty beds' Drug action teams in England are not referring enough addicts to residential treatment schemes, it has been claimed. The Association of Directors of Social Services is warning of an impending crisis, and says some providers could close down altogether.
It is thought addicts are instead being referred to cheaper community-based schemes, leaving some centres half empty and others having to close beds.
However, the National Treatment Agency said there was no crisis.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said live-in centres with detoxification facilities and counselling are widely thought to be the most effective way of dealing with the most hardened addicts.
Community-based programmes, while up to 20 times cheaper, are considered less effective than residential treatments.
It is thought drug action teams are sending more addicts to community-based schemes in an effort to save money and meet government targets.
At least half of the main providers of residential drug treatment services in England are reporting severe financial problems because not enough addicts are being referred to them.
But National Treatment Agency chief executive Paul Hayes disputed the claims.
He said occupancy figures provided by rehab and detox centres showed bed occupancy, monitored weekly, was at 80% this year compared with 85% last year.
'Investment increase'
"We would expect to run at 85% or thereabouts. You would expect some empty beds because people drop out, or there are delays in admissions."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there was a "real problem", but the agency did not think it was as widespread or significant as implied.
"We particularly don't see it as being caused by spending decisions being taken locally in order to spend money on treatments that are less effective but cheaper," he said.
"The spending plans that local drug action teams put in place for this year actually showed a 50% increase in the amount they were planning to spend on residential treatments."
Spending is set to increase from £48m to £72m, bringing residential treatment to 12% from 9% of the treatment spend, he said.
Last month a watchdog said drug users seeking help to quit their habit faced a "postcode lottery" of care.
The Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency for substance misuse reviewed the services provided across England.
Source: BBC Website 13th Oct. 2006
The current situation is a farce - the NTA and the government claim there are more drug users in treatment - but this includes all those on methadone maintenance and anyone who visits a local drug agency for counselling over a few weeks.Meanwhile if you have a problem with cannabis, amphetamines or alcohol you will have an almighty battle to get into residential treatment - which has always had a better long term outcome for dependent users than any other form of treatment is an absolute disgrace.
Children as young as 10 caught drug dealing on the streets
Children as young as ten are being caught selling drugs, with nine-year-olds found in possession, shocking new police figures reveal.
The number of under-16s caught supplying illegal drugs has soared by almost 40% in just two years, with more than 6,000 arrested across Britain last year, while 53,000 were caught in possession.
The youngest dealers included four 10-year-olds caught in Lancashire, Worcestershire, Kent and Strathclyde, while three nine-year-olds were caught by police in Worcestershire in possession of cannabis.
The startling figures come amid growing concerns over drug use among young people in the wake of the Government's highly controversial decision to downgrade the law on cannabis three years ago.
Ministers have been blamed for sending confusing and mixed messages to young people on drug abuse by opting to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C.
This means that most cases of personal possession are now dealt with through an informal warning, with the person involved receiving no police record.
The move has led many youngsters to believe, wrongly, that the drug is no longer illegal.
Earlier this week a scathing report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs warned that youngsters found 'little difficulty' in obtaining illegal drugs.
Harry Shapiro, of the charity Drugscope, said: "Many dealers have found themselves a willing and able young workforce.
"To a large extent these kids will be gophers and runners and it's difficult for the police to be able to do anything about it."
Source:Daily Mail 15th Sept. 2006
The number of under-16s caught supplying illegal drugs has soared by almost 40% in just two years, with more than 6,000 arrested across Britain last year, while 53,000 were caught in possession.
The youngest dealers included four 10-year-olds caught in Lancashire, Worcestershire, Kent and Strathclyde, while three nine-year-olds were caught by police in Worcestershire in possession of cannabis.
The startling figures come amid growing concerns over drug use among young people in the wake of the Government's highly controversial decision to downgrade the law on cannabis three years ago.
Ministers have been blamed for sending confusing and mixed messages to young people on drug abuse by opting to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C.
This means that most cases of personal possession are now dealt with through an informal warning, with the person involved receiving no police record.
The move has led many youngsters to believe, wrongly, that the drug is no longer illegal.
Earlier this week a scathing report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs warned that youngsters found 'little difficulty' in obtaining illegal drugs.
Harry Shapiro, of the charity Drugscope, said: "Many dealers have found themselves a willing and able young workforce.
"To a large extent these kids will be gophers and runners and it's difficult for the police to be able to do anything about it."
Source:Daily Mail 15th Sept. 2006
CANNABIS DOWNGRADE COINCIDES WITH DRUG DEATHS RISE
Drug deaths spiralled after Labour downgraded cannabis, it has been revealed.
The number of people killed by overdoses surged by almost 15 % in the next year. .
Critics had warned that the decision to reclassify cannabis from Class B to C in January 2004, meaning simple possession was unlikely to lead to arrest, would lead to a surge in the use of all illegal drugs. .
An internal Downing Street report later admitted that people trying cannabis had been lured on to deadly harder drugs. As a result, deaths from heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy all rocketed figures from the Office of National Statistics showed yesterday. The increase meant the Government failed to meet its target of reducing drug deaths by a fifth between 1999 and 2004. Before the reclassification of cannabis, it was on course to do so easily. .
Tory spokesman Edward Garnier said: 'Labour continues to fail to deal with the scourge of drugs. 'Drugs take lives and tear apart communities. They also undermine all our efforts to combat crime. The Government needs to get an urgent grip on this problem but so far all we have had is a chaotic and confused approach that gives the impression it is OK to take drugs.'.
Mary Brett, of the Europe Against Drugs campaign, said it appeared much more than simple coincidence that the alarming rise in deaths had followed the downgrading of cannabis. .
She said: 'Cannabis is a gateway drug, most people agree that now. A person smokes it and they are then far more likely to go on to take a harder drug. The Government will no doubt come up with excuses as to why the number of deaths has increased, saying the drugs were stronger. .
But that cannot be the whole explanation.
'It is a significant increase and how many of those who died were, for example, first-time users?' In 1999, the Government promised to reduce drug deaths by 20 % over the next five years. Following the pledge, the numbers fell each year, from 1,571 in 1999, to 1,255 in 2003. At this point, the target was hit a year early. But in 2004 the death toll suddenly shot up by 14 %, to 1,427. .
The number of heroin deaths was up from 591 in 2003 to 744, cocaine from 113 to 147 and Ecstasy from 33 to 48. The Health Department said last night that, despite the rise in deaths last year, there had been a 9 % reduction overall since 1999. .
Within the total, however, there was a 67 % increase in cocaine deaths, from 88 in 1999 to 147, and Ecstasy fatalities were up 85 %, from 26 to 48. Both figures reflect wider use. .
The department has now reconvened its Drug Related Deaths Steering Group, a panel of experts which will produce a plan of action later this year on how to reduce the toll.
Source: Motgift International. 31st August 2006
The number of people killed by overdoses surged by almost 15 % in the next year. .
Critics had warned that the decision to reclassify cannabis from Class B to C in January 2004, meaning simple possession was unlikely to lead to arrest, would lead to a surge in the use of all illegal drugs. .
An internal Downing Street report later admitted that people trying cannabis had been lured on to deadly harder drugs. As a result, deaths from heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy all rocketed figures from the Office of National Statistics showed yesterday. The increase meant the Government failed to meet its target of reducing drug deaths by a fifth between 1999 and 2004. Before the reclassification of cannabis, it was on course to do so easily. .
Tory spokesman Edward Garnier said: 'Labour continues to fail to deal with the scourge of drugs. 'Drugs take lives and tear apart communities. They also undermine all our efforts to combat crime. The Government needs to get an urgent grip on this problem but so far all we have had is a chaotic and confused approach that gives the impression it is OK to take drugs.'.
Mary Brett, of the Europe Against Drugs campaign, said it appeared much more than simple coincidence that the alarming rise in deaths had followed the downgrading of cannabis. .
She said: 'Cannabis is a gateway drug, most people agree that now. A person smokes it and they are then far more likely to go on to take a harder drug. The Government will no doubt come up with excuses as to why the number of deaths has increased, saying the drugs were stronger. .
But that cannot be the whole explanation.
'It is a significant increase and how many of those who died were, for example, first-time users?' In 1999, the Government promised to reduce drug deaths by 20 % over the next five years. Following the pledge, the numbers fell each year, from 1,571 in 1999, to 1,255 in 2003. At this point, the target was hit a year early. But in 2004 the death toll suddenly shot up by 14 %, to 1,427. .
The number of heroin deaths was up from 591 in 2003 to 744, cocaine from 113 to 147 and Ecstasy from 33 to 48. The Health Department said last night that, despite the rise in deaths last year, there had been a 9 % reduction overall since 1999. .
Within the total, however, there was a 67 % increase in cocaine deaths, from 88 in 1999 to 147, and Ecstasy fatalities were up 85 %, from 26 to 48. Both figures reflect wider use. .
The department has now reconvened its Drug Related Deaths Steering Group, a panel of experts which will produce a plan of action later this year on how to reduce the toll.
Source: Motgift International. 31st August 2006
Government doing 'nothing' on cannabis education claims professor
Robin Murray, professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, has accused the Government of doing 'nothing' to educate young people as to the potential dangers of cannabis.
The Government had pledged to 'launch a major campaign' this spring targeted at young people. The move came after the divisive reclassification of cannabis two years ago from a class 'b' to a class 'c' drug.
But Professor Murray told BBC Radio 4's 'You and Yours' that the Home Office was dragging its feet on the issue.
'It has been absolutely useless', he said. 'In January Charles Clarke announced that they accepted cannabis could cause schizophrenia and that they would initiate a major education campaign.
'Since that time Charles Clarke has gone and absolutely nothing has happened.'
Professor Murray attributed the inaction largely to Mr Clarke's unceremonious departure from the Home Office earlier this year and a subsequent change of policy emphasis.
He relayed: 'Charles Clarke was interested in it and he took a particular interest and, indeed, I think if he had stayed we perhaps would have seen some action but clearly John Reid has other interests and other pressing problems.'
And Professor Murray, who has long been a proponent of rolling out a health education campaign, said the Government paled in comparison to the actions taken in other countries on the issue.
'Well we know that in the continent and, particularly in the United States, there is a very active campaign whereas the Government here has being doing nothing', he remarked.
'One evening I got a phone call from the White House to say they initiating their programme to counter the problems associated with cannabis and they wanted me to go over to the launch of this campaign.
'They have launched this campaign. All of the newspapers, cinema have videos all about the dangers that you can go psychotic if you smoke a lot of cannabis.'
But again he expressed regret over how 'nothing' had happened in the UK, accusing the Home Office of putting its proposed education campaign 'in a drawer and forgetting about it'.
Asked what then needs to be done, Professor Murray advised: 'We have to provoke them into actually delivering on their promise, that we know there are increasing numbers of young people developing psychosis becoming dependent on cannabis.'
'This is costing the Government a lot', he observed. 'It is one of the reasons why our mental health services are in such a mess because there are so many people whose illness does not recover and they are at this point doing nothing about it.'
The Government had pledged to 'launch a major campaign' this spring targeted at young people. The move came after the divisive reclassification of cannabis two years ago from a class 'b' to a class 'c' drug.
But Professor Murray told BBC Radio 4's 'You and Yours' that the Home Office was dragging its feet on the issue.
'It has been absolutely useless', he said. 'In January Charles Clarke announced that they accepted cannabis could cause schizophrenia and that they would initiate a major education campaign.
'Since that time Charles Clarke has gone and absolutely nothing has happened.'
Professor Murray attributed the inaction largely to Mr Clarke's unceremonious departure from the Home Office earlier this year and a subsequent change of policy emphasis.
He relayed: 'Charles Clarke was interested in it and he took a particular interest and, indeed, I think if he had stayed we perhaps would have seen some action but clearly John Reid has other interests and other pressing problems.'
And Professor Murray, who has long been a proponent of rolling out a health education campaign, said the Government paled in comparison to the actions taken in other countries on the issue.
'Well we know that in the continent and, particularly in the United States, there is a very active campaign whereas the Government here has being doing nothing', he remarked.
'One evening I got a phone call from the White House to say they initiating their programme to counter the problems associated with cannabis and they wanted me to go over to the launch of this campaign.
'They have launched this campaign. All of the newspapers, cinema have videos all about the dangers that you can go psychotic if you smoke a lot of cannabis.'
But again he expressed regret over how 'nothing' had happened in the UK, accusing the Home Office of putting its proposed education campaign 'in a drawer and forgetting about it'.
Asked what then needs to be done, Professor Murray advised: 'We have to provoke them into actually delivering on their promise, that we know there are increasing numbers of young people developing psychosis becoming dependent on cannabis.'
'This is costing the Government a lot', he observed. 'It is one of the reasons why our mental health services are in such a mess because there are so many people whose illness does not recover and they are at this point doing nothing about it.'
In a statement, the Government insists it is 'committed to educating young people on the harms of drugs'.
Source: Mon, 17 Jul 06 |DeHavilland Report - Broadcast
SAMHSA Alerts Field To Dangerous Drug Combo
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued an action alert to substance abuse treatment and prevention professionals about a new combination of street drugs with a potentially lethal effect. The addition of fentanyl, a powerful narcotic analgesic, to heroin or cocaine being sold on the streets is believed to be the cause of clusters of drug-related deaths and even greater numbers of overdoses in east coast and Midwest cities in the past few months.
In just one week in May, an estimated 33 individuals in the Detroit are reported to have died after using this fatal drug mix. The same drug combination may have been responsible for over 100 deaths in Philadelphia/Camden, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit since last September.
The alert was issued by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Director H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., to substance abuse professional organizations, treatment providers, state substance abuse authorities, and recovery community-related organizations and individuals. It highlights the growing concern about the potentially fatal effects of this street-drug combination and encloses a brief fact sheet about preventing as well as detecting and treating overdoses.
"Individuals involved in the public health need to be aware of this new dangerous drug combination," Dr. Clark said. "They need to be prepared to alert patients, clients and others to help save lives. After all, fentanyl is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. When mixed with cocaine or heroin, the results can be lethal."
The alert encourages recipients not only to advise their networks of patients and colleagues, but also to join local health authorities to bring information about the drugs to first responders, emergency room personnel, street substance abuse workers, drug treatment facilities, local health care providers, the recovery community, and the public at large.
When used illegally, particularly in combination with a drug such as heroin or cocaine, or when used in excessive amounts, fentanyl can result in irregular heart beat, the inability to breathe, and death. In some cases, heroin or cocaine users are aware they are purchasing this dangerous combination of drugs; in other cases, the buyer is not aware that he or she is purchasing this potentially lethal drug combination. The alert advises local vigilance for the possible introduction of this potent drug mixture into circulation on the street and emphasizes the importance of education, particularly on the street.
SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
Source: www.samhsa.gov/news/ June 9, 2006
In just one week in May, an estimated 33 individuals in the Detroit are reported to have died after using this fatal drug mix. The same drug combination may have been responsible for over 100 deaths in Philadelphia/Camden, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit since last September.
The alert was issued by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Director H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., to substance abuse professional organizations, treatment providers, state substance abuse authorities, and recovery community-related organizations and individuals. It highlights the growing concern about the potentially fatal effects of this street-drug combination and encloses a brief fact sheet about preventing as well as detecting and treating overdoses.
"Individuals involved in the public health need to be aware of this new dangerous drug combination," Dr. Clark said. "They need to be prepared to alert patients, clients and others to help save lives. After all, fentanyl is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. When mixed with cocaine or heroin, the results can be lethal."
The alert encourages recipients not only to advise their networks of patients and colleagues, but also to join local health authorities to bring information about the drugs to first responders, emergency room personnel, street substance abuse workers, drug treatment facilities, local health care providers, the recovery community, and the public at large.
When used illegally, particularly in combination with a drug such as heroin or cocaine, or when used in excessive amounts, fentanyl can result in irregular heart beat, the inability to breathe, and death. In some cases, heroin or cocaine users are aware they are purchasing this dangerous combination of drugs; in other cases, the buyer is not aware that he or she is purchasing this potentially lethal drug combination. The alert advises local vigilance for the possible introduction of this potent drug mixture into circulation on the street and emphasizes the importance of education, particularly on the street.
SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
Source: www.samhsa.gov/news/ June 9, 2006
Give them all the crack they want
The following article from The Times Arts Section makes pathetic reading. It is this attitude – “we cannot win, therefore give the addicts what they want” that has led the UK into the dreadful situation we are now in. When will the liberal elite, the journalists sympathetic to the drug users, the politicians (badly advised by those who are bent on changing the drug laws to enable even more drug use) realise that we can turn the situation round ? Look at Sweden – their restrictive drug policies are supported by the vast majority of the population – their culture is ‘illegal drugs are unacceptable and only for losers’ - - - result ? Sweden has the lowest drug use in Europe.
The Times May 29 2006
Give them all the crack they want
RACHEL CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON
Drug laws are failing both society and the addicts. It's time for a radical solution
DRUGS CAN BE FUN. There are only two problems. They ruin your life. And they ruin the life of everyone around you. And I don’t just mean that coke-head who assaults you with his monologue. I mean homes smashed apart by robberies and broken promises. I mean entire worlds demolished by violence and distrust.
Drugs may have been part of our culture since prehistoric man first experimented with psycho-active plants, but they present an intractable problem to modern society. And government policy clearly can’t cope.
Millions of pounds may be spent on policing the drugs industry from the poppy fields of Pashtun farmers to Old Compton Street, but I could still wander out of my front door right now and score within minutes. All right, it would probably turn out to be talcum powder. I could probably sue under the Trade Descriptions Act, but still, right here in Soho, in the heart of London, where the electronic surveillance systems are among the most sophisticated in Britain, an illegal trade thrives — and with it, crime.
The light of morning bears testimony: the stolen purses discarded in gutters, the last gangs of stragglers squaring-up in the streets, the pools of blood clotting in alleyways, the fluttering cordons of police crime-scene tape. And this is not just Soho. The same scenes are witnessed in town centres throughout the country. According to a recent BBC survey, almost three quarters of Britons consider drugs to be a problem in their area. Something has to give.
A report has just been published by the Independent Working Group, an advisory panel of experts from the police and the legal and health sectors. It suggests that Britain should consider a proposal already in action in eight other countries. This involves the creation of drug consumption rooms — “shooting galleries”, as they are nicknamed — to which addicts can come for free needles, for medical support and even for companionship. There is no evidence that it decreases crime, the chairman, Dame Ruth Runciman, says, but it might at least help to prevent the spread of hepatitis and Aids. And it brings one of the most marginalised groups into touch with social services, often for the first time.
The idea has the support of senior police officers, including Andy Hayman, the chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers Drugs Committee. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has declared that his party would not rule it out. The present system of directing drug users into treatment was not working as well as it could, he said. “We should look at it as part of our policy review.”
Of course, many are outraged. “An obnoxious proposal by a committee of do-gooders” was the opinion from Civitas, the institute for the study of civil society. Many join them in deploring an encouragement to further drug use. Yet the real problem with the proposal is that it does not go far enough. These “shooting galleries” should offer not just free needles but free drugs.
Would that increase abuse? Not necessarily. Alcohol is freely available and heavily advertised and we are not all alcoholics. Legalisation might even have a beneficial effect. Would those first snorts of cocaine seem so temptingly salacious if they were not forbidden? Would Pete Doherty have been voted a “rock hero” by NME readers if he was stripped of his rebelliousness and revealed as the wilful loser he really is? Scampi would probably taste better if it were a banned substance.
Drug addiction has a natural life cycle. You start taking drugs because they make you feel better. But the heartbreaking pleasure is soon replaced by a washed-up desperation. The heroin that wrapped a dark stole round your skull becomes a marauding compulsion that ravages your nerves. The crack cocaine that led you soaring through the sky-lights leaves you empty and fragile.
You are trapped in a cycle of fast diminishing returns. You chase that first feeling like you chase the first sweet memories of love. But you can never recapture it. You can go only onwards and downwards into sad isolation. Soon you need your first shot just to make you brush your teeth in the morning. The embrace of the angels has turned into the sneer of a devil. Drugs promise freedom, but they imprison you in compulsion. You set out open-armed to experience. You end with your whole life narrowed down to one repetitive experience. The entire world is focused on to a needle point. You feed like a vampire on your own veins. But every time you shoot up, as a friend of mine put it, you are shooting up your own tears. You crave for release.
No one can give up until they reach this point. It is no use clapping some offender into prison at vast state expense. But to supply the addict with drugs is to force the endgame. You can’t maunder on for decades with heroin or crack cocaine. You go down fast. You either die of an overdose. or you are brought to your knees. And it is only from your knees that you can beg for help.
This is when the State should step in, offering withdrawal programmes and counselling, paid for with the money that it has saved from policing the drugs industry. And there is also Narcotics Anonymous, a true model of democracy, with a network extending throughout Britain. It asks for no fees, no leadership, no dues. No one forces you to join. You can walk out if you like. But people go because they want to go. They go for support.
That is why, if you have compassion for the drug addict, you should give him more crack.
Comment by NDPA:
Do we give unlimited, State supplied alcohol to alcoholics ? Do we give unlimited and
State supplied cigarettes to Nicotine addicts?
NO Rachel – if you have compassion for the drug addict you get him treatment to enable him to return to a life free of the tyranny of drugs. You change the culture of this country by all giving the same message – drugs are unhealthy, unlawful and unnecessary. You teach children – not about drugs – as is the current scene – but against drugs. You give more attention and ‘rewards’ to the 80% of young people who do not do drugs instead of concentrating on the 20% who do use. They should be helped with treatment to give up long before they become dependent users. The NDPA has examples of young people with an alcohol and/or cannabis habit who cannot get residential rehabilitation because they are ‘not using Class A drugs and therefore not needing help’…….. let’s wait until these people are several more years into addiction and then try to help them …hardly logical but this is reality in the UK today. Millions of pounds spent on ‘treatment’ - 50% of which is to purchase and provide methadone to users. Prevention ? Research, worldwide, shows that for every £1 spent on treatment you can save £4 - it also shows that for every £1 spent on prevention you can save £7 . 10 years ago The Big Issue did a survey in the North of England and asked drug users what they wanted – the answer was ‘to get clean’. Giving users as much crack as they want in the hope that they will not suffer health repercussions and not behave irresponsibly whilst using their ‘prescription drug’ is to subject them and their families to more years of despair. Look at Sweden – that is where the answer lies.
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