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| MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | ||
| UKDPC News 'Enforcement' review reports go live The result of a year-long review including extensive consultation with enforcement agencies, our review considered how drug-related law enforcement can be made 'smarter' to ensure a real and sustainable reduction in harms experienced by communities. You may have seen some of the extensive media coverage which was mostly sensible, but we would urge you to refer to the original reports. We produced two publications - a short policy briefing and a full review report. You may also like to check out Jon Caulkins and Nicola Singleton presenting at our 10 July seminar to enforcement groups, which was filmed for the FEAD website. Submission to the Innovation, Science, Universities and Skills Committee As part of their inquiry 'Putting Science and Engineering at the Heart of Government Policy" we submitted a memorandum which called for more knowledge building and evaluations within the drugs policy field. Forthcoming review: Diversity We will shortly be issuing an invitation to tender (ITT) for research to provide an overview of what is known about the differing needs and challenges associated with drug use among the diverse minority communities within the UK. If you are interested, we will post the ITT on our website soon. | ||
| General News Update 29 July: The National Treatment Agency (NTA) is consulting on possible changes to the way they ‘code’ drug treatment data. There is 12 weeks to respond. 31 July: The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is part funding a $7m research programme on substance misuse problems among US military personnel. 30 July: Our reports ‘Moving towards Real Impact Drug Enforcement’ and ‘Refocusing Drug-Related Law Enforcement to Address Harms’ conclude that more focus on reducing harm would improve the outcomes of drug law enforcement. See also coverage from the BBC (Mark Easton), the Daily Telegraph, the Times, and the Daily Mail. 30 July: The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s ‘Statistical Bulletin 2009’ provides the latest data on key indicators across Europe. 28 July: The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs annual report outlines future priorities for the ACMD as: Early Warning Mechanisms, Legal Highs, Cognitive Enhancers and Polydrug use. They are also reviewing ‘Spice’ and foil (as a harm reduction intervention). 27 July: A meta-analysis of cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) for substance use found that outcomes for those whose treatment included CBT did better, but only by a small degree. 25 July: Effective Services for Substance Misuse and Homelessness in Scotland: Evidence from an International Review, suggests that some services fail because they expect too much (e.g. abstinence) from those with complex needs, when more modest outcomes (e.g. harm reduction) may be a more realistic goal for some. 23 July: Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey (England and Wales) is published. Based on ‘last year’ use for 16-59 year olds: overall drug use remains stable. (10.1%) but cocaine use has risen to 3%. Overall stimulants has remained fairly flat, as amphetamine use has been declining. Welsh only statistics are also summarised. 23 July: Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2008 (aka the NatCen ‘Schools Survey’) shows that among secondary school pupils, ‘last year’ overall drug use is again down (from 17.3-15%) – a trend that began in 2001. 23 July: The Government is consulting on its mental health and well-being strategy, “New Horizons”. 23 July: The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee’s Inquiry Putting Science and Engineering at the Heart of Government Policy concludes that Professor Nutt, Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, should not have been criticised by the Home Secretary for publishing a paper comparing Ecstasy with horse riding. See the UKDPC submission to this Inquiry. 23 July St George’s has published its latest report on Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) deaths. There were 58 deaths in 2007 (up slightly from 51 in 2006). 23 July: The Ministry of Justice published guidance on issuing Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) for cannabis possession. The ‘escalation’ of disposals means that over 18s caught with cannabis for personal use for the first time would usually result in a cannabis warning, then a PND and a third offence would mean arrest. 23 July: A parliamentary briefing by the National Treatment Agency describes ‘reintegration’ as the next chapter in drug treatment – employment and training, housing, and support from family/social networks. 20 July: writing in The Times, Professor Jonathan Shepherd said that “Policing tactics, teaching techniques and sentencing would benefit from a the same kind of rigorous assessment [as in the field of medicine], but are rarely subject to scientific analysis” 20 July: The Local Government Information Unit’s ‘Primary Justice – an inquiry into justice in communities’ recommends a shift in control (and budgets) for prisons and key supporting services away from Whitehall to a local level. Some news sourced from DS Daily and Daily Dose, with thanks. | ||
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