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Drugs and Alcohol Policy: Trends and developments. Dr Marcus Roberts Chief Executive, DrugScope.
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Drugs and Alcohol Policy:Trends and developments Dr Marcus Roberts Chief Executive, DrugScope
‘This strategy sets out a fundamentally different approach to tackling drugs and an entirely new ambition to reduce drug use and dependence. It will consider dependence on all drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines. It recognises that severe alcohol dependence raises similar issues and that treatment providers are often one and the same ….’ Drug Strategy 2010
The new environment Then: NTA Pooled Treatment Budget PDU and OCU Criminal Justice Targets/performance management (national) Drug Action Teams More money Now: PHE (Drugs, Alcohol and tobacco) Public Health Budget New trends and concerns Public health/recovery Localism Public health commissioning (Considerably) less money
Beyond heroin? PHE Drug Treatment in England 2012-13
The unpredictable … New synthetic opiates (ACMD report on AH-7912)
Some figures • 298,752 ‘problem drug users’ in England • 193,575 in drug treatment and 109,683 in alcohol treatment • 2.7 million people took an illicit drug in 2011-12 (about ¾ cannabis) • 34% of men and 28% of women drank more than recommended at least one day in the last week • Some estimates suggest as many as 1.5 million dependent on benzodiazepines • 50 million anti-depressants prescribed (Health and Social Care Information Centre)
Some thoughts • The new environment and workforce and skills development. • Severe and multiple disadvantage and the pervasiveness of drug and alcohol as issues. • Services, interventions and sites. • Competent for what and who are ‘we’? • Unrecognised competencies (do we need to keep up with the chemistry?)