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

State of the Sector 2013

The unpredictable … New synthetic opiates (ACMD report on AH-7912)

Rethinking ‘our’ sector

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 (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?)