Fab New Strategy

There, I tried to jazz up the title but I fear anything with the word strategy in it is likely to sound oh-so-dull.

Anyway, it arrived fresh and squeaky yesterday and is the new national drug strategy. The welcome seemed rather muted though, the press weren't all over it, maybe because there's a lot of other hard news and I haven't spoken to anyone in the field who is desperate to chat about it - not yet anyway.

Good bits:

• Roll out of heroin prescribing programme subject to the pilots going OK - for those who just can not clean up their act any other way. Very brave politically.
• A call for more innovative treatment.
• A surprising (so it seems at first glance) emphasis on treatment, we all thought it would be much more enforcement.
• Acceptance of evidence base for treatments which were thought controversial e.g. methadone maintenance.

Not so good bits:

• Continuation of emphasis on law'n'order including asset seizing on arrest. Another erosion of basic law i.e. assumption of guilt until proven innocent.
  

Really awful bit:

• Removal or denial of benefits if you don't comply with treatment. What? Are they expecting treatment agencies to grass up clients to the benefits agancies if they miss an appointment? I must read this bit again in detail but it smacks of poor policy development.
  

Now read on....