Please - it's just another drug

Had a call from the local press this morning - did we know anything about meth-amphetamine as the police are organising a big conference about it? The machine is cranking up. That is the publicity machine and as is often the case it's driven by the police. This happens with every 'new' drug, we get a scare which succeeds in:

• Raising interest and curiosity in the drug.
• Marketing it.
• Frightening Mums and Dads
• Increasing calls to treatment agencies from the worried well, the press and so on.

Of course the police would argue that they are putting a vital message out to the public aimed at preventing the spread of the drug's use. Which is very laudable but never, ever works. What it does do though is:

• Advance some people's careers as they become the local 'expert' on this new threat to civilisation.
• Attracts funding - e.g. specialist anti-meth squads are set up.
• Loses sight of the real risks of the drug in a fog of myth-making and error.

In previous blogs I have metioned the risks of meth-amphetamine, but if I hear once more that it - or any drug, is instantly addictive - somebody shoot me and put me out of my misery. The biggest risk associated with it is disinhibition and increased sexual risk-taking which can lead to unpleasant diseases. As can injecting it or any other drug. So let's all sit back and watch the next drug panic lift-off.

You might as well die.

Bad news today about possible/likely closures of residential rehab beds. There are about 5-600 beds in residential units around the UK for the treatment of people with drug and alcohol problems. They tend to be used as a weapon of last resort by referring agencies – we send people to them when all else in the community has failed or is likely to fail. And research evidence shows that provided clients stay in them for a reasonable time (the longer the better, but three months seems to be the key) then outcomes can be good.

But funding has been getting tighter and tighter. In my own area the bar for getting funding for rehab (from Social Services) has been getting higher and higher, until last year you had to be practically dead before funding was agreed. By doing this it ensured that the budget was not completely spent and therefore this year allowed the budget to be cut back to the amount spent last year. Cunning really as it could then be presented as no cut in funding on last year’s spend but is in fact a cut in the total budget available.
Whilst treatment in the community has got much better there still remain a hardcore of people for whom the only real chance they have is residential rehab. But hey, they’re only junkies so who cares?