The Brighton and Hove Independent Drugs Commission: An Opportunity Missed

The presentation of the report and recommendations of the Independent Drugs Commission, and the predictable reaction of local and national media, means that the chance of having a reasonable debate on the issues is lost.  I turned down about a dozen requests for comment or interview , and remained silent on the report until now as there was nothing to be gained from trying to persuade journalists to discuss the wider issue of tackling drugs when all they want to do is discuss consumption rooms.

All this is frustrating as some of the conclusions of the Commission raise some interesting issues, worthy of consideration, but overall the report is an opportunity missed.  This is my response to the Commission’s report.

The Commission addressed four issues:

• Are the current strategies to prevent drug related deaths sufficient to achieve a significant reduction in the coming years?
• Are the policing, prosecution and sentencing strategies currently pursued, effective in reducing drug related harm?
• Are we doing enough to protect young people and to enable them to make informed decisions around drug use and involvement in drug markets?
• To what extent does the treatment system meet the treatment and recovery needs of the citizens of Brighton & Hove?

Unfortunately, the report is presented in a vacuum, giving no acknowledgement of the most radical change in national drug strategy for a generation.  The Coalition Government has called for a treatment revolution and the championing of abstinence. The words “abstinence”, “abstain”, even “drug free” do not appear in the Commission’s report even once. By ignoring the national context, the report is immediately undermined and is, at best, of academic interest.

My disappointment with the conclusions focuses on the first and fourth points above and can be summarised as follows: it lacks ambition, and the presentation of the issues does not create the right platform for a proper debate on how to enhance progress in drug treatment.

According to the report, just 12% of those entering treatment services in Brighton “left the treatment system in a planned way, having overcome their dependency”. This compares to a national figure of 15%. The report is correct to say that “For the system to remain sustainable, the number of successful exits from the treatment system must keep pace with the number of new clients registered. If too many clients are retained in the system for too long, the system will become log-jammed. The Health and Well Being Board needs to find ways to increase the numbers successfully treated each year and support their recovery in order to prevent relapses and a return to dependence, both on drugs and on the treatment system”.

While the recommendation that “The development of a city wide recovery culture is promoted and embedded throughout the treatment system, and related settings”, it is an after thought, appearing on page 23 of the 23 page report. It illustrates a lack of ambition. This issue should be upfront and should set the tone for the rest of the report, creating the climate where the more sensationalist issues, such as consumption rooms, could have been dealt with in the context of recovery and abstinence.

A bold ambition, of say 40% or 50% leaving treatment drug free, would have been a defining contribution to the debate and the development of services in Brighton. Such an approach would be right for clients, it would help them achieve their aspirations, and would assist them to cope with the fundamental changes we are experiencing in welfare reform. A failure to address the addiction of a sizeable cohort will result in them finding themselves further outside the structures of society with all the predictable consequences for them, their families and society at large.

The presentation of the report attracted predictable, yet avoidable, headlines. The media focused exclusively on consumption rooms. How different it could have been had the report recommended a treatment revolution locally, with the ambition that Brighton will replace the unwanted headline of “drug death capital” to the “recovery capital” of the UK.

That would have created a climate where more controversial steps could have been introduced as a minor part of a process aimed at getting people into recovery and abstinence.

I previously urged the Commission to look again at its report so that it could strengthen its recommendations and thereby becoming a defining point in the evolution of drug policy and the start of a real drug revolution locally. I am sorry it did not do this.

Running a marathon has been a lifelong ambition. Guess what I will be doing on Sunday ….

One of my lifelong ambitions has been to run a marathon.  As a young man, many, many years ago, I was a keen runner but never managed a marathon.  This Sunday is the Brighton Marathon, and guess what?  I will be cheering from the sidelines in support of James Danks who is running on behalf of BHT.

James is a recovering addict who just one year ago to the day started a detox programme that has changed his life.

James said: “It is amazing to think how far I have come. Just one year ago I was drinking a litre of vodka every day and spending £40 a day on heroin. I was in such a bad way and I knew that things had to change quickly or I could die and leave my sons without their father. I couldn’t let that happen and it was that thought that gave me the strength to get clean and to change my life for good.

“I was offered a place at BHT’s Detox Support Project, something that I thank my lucky stars for every day. I truly believe they saved my life. They have been so supportive and have helped me to deal with some deep rooted issues that have helped me with my recovery and are helping me every day to live a life of abstinence.”

James is not new to running events having completed the Brighton Half Marathon in February of this year in memory of his late wife Zoe and to raise money for BHT.

For the first time since his teenage years, James has a new found hope and plans for the future.

He said: “Exercise and keeping fit has played a huge part in my recovery so it is really nice to be able to combine my new found love for fitness with raising money for BHT. It’s great to feel like I am giving something back.

“I feel confident about the run on Sunday although I know it is going to be tough. Every step of the way I will be thinking about how far I have come in the last year and all of my new and exciting plans for the future.”

Anyone who would like to sponsor James can do so by clicking this link or by contacting Liz Davies on (01273) 645425.

The Southern Co-operative takes seriously its responsibility regarding the sale of alcohol

Over the weekend I blogged and tweeted about an application by the Co-op to sell alcohol from 6am and called for greater responsibility of supermarkets when it comes to the sale of alcohol.  I have since realised that I have done the Southern Co-operative a disservice.  It currently runs two stores in the Brighton area, one is on Western Road and the other is on the Sussex University campus.  However both trade under the national brand. The Southern Co-operative has a policy of not retailing alcohol before 8.00am and I have been assured by them that they are not reviewing this policy.

The other Co-operative stores in Brighton and Hove are owned and run by the Co-operative Group based in Manchester, and it is this Group that has made the application for 6am licences.

As an independent co-operative trading in the south of England, the Southern Co-operative is very much aware of the issues regarding alcohol and has worked very closely with local councillor Ollie Sykes and the residents near the store to ensure that they were aware of their position with regard to selling alcohol.

The Southern Co-operative has a zero tolerance to abuse. They do not put posters advertising alcohol in the window and at the residents’ requests removed one of the window designs that showed a glass of wine being poured. Residents were asked what they would like to see and after consultation, a local competition was held that resulted in a local artist’s design appearing in the store window that depicts the Brunswick area.

Local managers work with local groups and the manager in the Western Road store is in contact with the Brighton and Hove Crime Reduction Partnership and regularly attends local meetings.  It is also working with the Hanover Centre on their energy saving project at the community centre and with the Brighton Peace and Energy Centre on carbon footprint surveys and special energy saving courses.

So my apologies for not differentiating between the two Co-ops locally.  I have learned something.  I hope in the near future to be able to write a further post welcoming a decision by the Co-operative Group not to proceed with its applications, and to highlight a new responsible approach to the marketing and sale of alcohol from them!

Please sign the petition for the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol

For several months there has been high hopes that the government would introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol. The Prime Minister is on record as saying he supports the introduction of a Minimum Unit Price (MUP). However, just before the budget, in the face of some powerful lobbying, the government pulled back from announcing a MUP. We were told that the matter would be addressed through the budget. It was, with a 1p reduction on duty for a pint of beer.

A petition has now be launched on the government’s website. The petition reads:

“We urge the Government to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol and show the courage to tackle the devastation to families caused by alcoholism and the billions spent by the NHS every year treating disease caused by alcohol misuse.

“Recent major health reports show that Britain faces an enormous burden from alcohol. With death rates from liver disease rising by 65% over the past 20 years, the Government cannot afford to do nothing.

“The Government made a clear commitment to introduce a MUP for alcohol in its alcohol strategy published in March 2012. We urge the Government not to backtrack, and to put health and lives first by introducing MUP.”

Please sign the petition by clicking this link which will take you to the government website

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/47073

Supermarkets, including the Co-op, must show more responsibility when selling alcohol

Following news that the Co-op is seeking permission to sell alcohol from 6am in various stores in Brighton and Hove, I have called for supermarkets to take a more responsible approach to the sale of alcohol.

While alcohol has an important part to play in the night time economy of Brighton and Hove, we have a major problem with alcohol in the City.

Alcohol abuse in Brighton and Hove is reported to cost taxpayers more than £100 million each year. The City’s Director of Public Health, Tom Scanlon, reports that two people die each week in the city due to alcohol, 66 attend hospital per week, and each day a young person under the age of 18 is admitted to A&E. City youngsters are twice as likely to have been drunk nearly once a week than their counterparts nationally. Alcohol specific stays in hospital are at a much higher rate in Brighton and Hove compared to the rest of England.

News that the Co-op is seeking permission to sell alcohol from 6am is shocking. Such sales cannot be important to the night time economy, and can only be needed to supply alcohol to those with serious problems.

It highlights the need for responsibility by our largest supermarkets. It is all well and good for the Co-op to boast about its ethical policies, but its alcohol retail practices fall well short of acceptable standards. It currently has deals for cheap alcohol on its website. In fact almost a third of its special deals are for cheap alcohol, a further third relate to chocolates for Easter.

It is not just the Co-op. Increasingly supermarkets are placing alcohol in chiller cabinets, at checkouts, and throughout their stores. I am aware that complaints have been made by customers at the London Road Co-op about their decision to site alcohol in the main body of the shop close to food, sweets and even flowers.

I would call on supermarkets to introduce an ethical policy relating to alcohol sales, including restricting displays to one discreet area in the store, away from children, and to do away with special deals. In the sad absence of government legislation, a voluntary minimum 50p unit pricing agreement between the main outlets would demonstrate that supermarkets signing up to this are worth supporting.

Alongside the Pink Pound and the Ethical Pound, a Social Responsibility Pound might help change the practices of these alcohol bucket shops.

Good news as BHT-led partnership is given the go-ahead to bid for £9.2 million Big Lottery funding

We have had some very good news this week which is attracting some media interest.  A consortium, being led by BHT, is in the running for funding from the Big Lottery of up to £10 million over 8 years.  The initiative is designed to improve services for men and women with complex needs (a combination of mental ill health, homelessness, offending behaviour and substance misuse problems) in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. Between now and September, a full bid and business plan needs to be prepared.  A decision will then be made by the Big Lottery and the new services will begin from April 2014.

The purpose of this funding is to bring about lasting change in how services work with people with multiple and complex needs; this funding is a vehicle to help bring about that change. The legacy of the 8 year programme will be that systems and services in all 3 geographical areas will better meet the needs of this group.

At this stage we have been awarded funding to develop the bid on behalf of our partnership which includes partners in local government and in the third / charity sectors.  Should the partnership be successful, it won’t just be BHT staff (contrary to what the Argus reported this morning) who will provide services.

My colleagues, Nikki Homewood and Jo Berry, are leading on this initiative for BHT. Nikki said: “As the lead partner for the Brighton and Hove, Eastbourne and Hastings area, BHT is thrilled to receive funding to develop our partnership bid to ensure better service provision for people with the most complex needs.

“Using the wealth of knowledge and expertise within our local Core Group, comprising seven voluntary sector organisations and five statutory partners including commissioners, along with the 60+ organisations in our Partnership Group, we will develop a programme that will truly bring about change for the clients the programme work with, and local communities.

“Our vision is to bring about long-term systemic change by putting service users at the heart of services, fully understanding what they need in order to move forward with their lives: thorough monitoring and evaluation will result in well-evidenced findings, which will then be used to influence future commissioning.”

BHT’s partners in this initiative, and who are represented on the local Core Group, include: Brighton and Hove City Council, Brighton Women’s Centre, CRI, East Sussex County Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Hastings Borough Council, Homeless Link, Sanctuary Supported Living, Southdown Housing Association, Sussex Oakleaf, Sussex Probation Service

Calling on Sussex MP’s to support the minimum pricing of alcohol to save lives

There are rumours this morning that the government is about to abandon its plan for the minimum pricing of alcohol in England and Wales.  Minimum pricing is something that I have supported for many years and blogged about on several occasions.  Conservative Member of Parliament, Sarah Wollaston, herself a former GP, said “To ditch this evidence-based measure would be a real tragedy.”

The introduction of a minimum price would save lives and save public expenditure.

In November 2011, a group of 19 leading medical organisations said that “pocket-money prices” for alcohol contributed to the loss of thousands of lives every year. The British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians claimed that minimum pricing for alcohol would be the most “simple and effective mechanism” for tackling the problem.

Figures published in December that year showed that twice as many people were being treated in hospital because of alcohol misuse compared with 10 years earlier. Alcohol is linked to more than one million admissions to hospital each year, about 13,000 new cases of cancer and one in four deaths of people aged 15 to 24. It is now the single largest cause of deaths among young people.

Alcohol pricing is an important issue when it comes to homeless and poor men and women. Some will say that by increasing alcohol prices, those least able to afford higher prices will be disproportionately disadvantaged. My view is that if higher prices saves lives it is something I will happily support.

The alcohol that homeless people drink is amongst the cheapest. A 4.5 litre of white cider costs just 11p per unit.

Scotland is currently trying to introduce a minimum alcohol price of about 50p a unit. What difference will it make to pricing? In England and Wales the government consulted on a 45p minimum per unit. A bottle of own-brand gin with around 37.5% alcohol content would go up from £6.95 to £11.85. A two-litre bottle of own-brand cider would more than triple in price from £1.20 to £3.75. The cost of a £12 bottle of whisky would rise to £12.60, while a bottle of cheap wine would go up from around £3.75 to £4.20. A four-pack of beer with more than 5% alcohol content would cost a minimum of about £3.95.

Can Britain introduce minimum pricing for alcohol? European law is sometimes referred to by those opposing minimum pricing, saying that EU law will not allow its introduction. Minimum prices are only likely to be allowed if the government can show that it is tackling a major health problem and that it is not undermining competition.

There needs to be the political will to do something as radical, yet as obvious, as this. The current Scottish governments has this will, and I commend them for it.  It is rumoured that the Chancellor will announce the abandonment of the minimum priceing in his Budget next week.  I urge all our Sussex MP’s to lobby the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to hold their nerve so that lives can be saved.

The Independent Drug Commission for Brighton is missing the opportunity to help turn the City from being the “drug death capital” to the “recovery capital” of the UK

The preliminary conclusions of the Independent Drug Commission for Brighton and Hove raise some interesting issues, worthy of debate, but overall the report is an opportunity missed.  This post is basically my personal response to the Commission’s consultation.

The Commission addressed four issues:

• Are the current strategies to prevent drug related deaths sufficient to achieve a significant reduction in the coming years?
• Are the policing, prosecution and sentencing strategies currently pursued, effective in reducing drug related harm?
• Are we doing enough to protect young people and to enable them to make informed decisions around drug use and involvement in drug markets?
• To what extent does the treatment system meet the treatment and recovery needs of the citizens of Brighton & Hove?

Unfortunately, the report is presented in a vacuum, giving no acknowledgement of the most radical change in national drug strategy for a generation which has called for a treatment revolution and the championing of abstinence. The words “abstinence”, “abstain”, even “drug free” do not appear in the report once. By ignoring the national context, the report is immediately undermined, and is, at best, of academic interest.

My disappointment with the preliminary conclusions focuses on the first and fourth points above and can be summarised by two points: it lacks ambition, and the presentation of the issues does not create the right platform for a proper debate on how to enhance progress in drug treatment.

Just 12% of those entering treatment services in Brighton “left the treatment system in a planned way, having overcome their dependency”. This compares to a national figure of 15%. The report is correct to say that “For the system to remain sustainable, the number of successful exits from the treatment system must keep pace with the number of new clients registered. If too many clients are retained in the system for too long, the system will become log-jammed. The Health and Well Being Board needs to find ways to increase the numbers successfully treated each year and support their recovery in order to prevent relapses and a return to dependence, both on drugs and on the treatment system”.

Sadly, this conclusion is not supported by a formal recommendation. It is almost an afterthought, appearing on page 22 of the 23 page report. It illustrates a lack of ambition. This issue should be upfront and should set the tone for the rest of the report, creating the climate where the more sensationalist issues, such as consumption rooms, could have been dealt with in the context of recovery and abstinence.

A bold ambition, of say 30% or 40% leaving treatment drug free, would have been a defining contribution to the debate and the development of services in Brighton. Such an approach would be right for clients, it would help them achieve their aspirations, and would better prepare them to cope with the fundamental changes we are experiencing in welfare reform. A failure to address the addiction of a sizeable cohort will result in them finding themselves further outside the structures of society with all the predictable consequences for them, their families and society at large.

The presentation of the report attracted predictable, yet avoidable, headlines. The media led on consumption rooms. How different it could have been had the report recommended a treatment revolution locally, with the ambition that Brighton will replace the unwanted headline of “drug death capital” to the “recovery capital” of the UK.

That would have created a climate where more controversial steps could have been introduced as part of a process aimed at getting people into recovery and abstinence.

I hope that the Commission will look again at its report, delay the final report if necessary so that it can strengthen its recommendations and thereby becoming a defining point in the evolution of drug policy locally and the start of a real treatment revolution.

Brighton’s night time economy is tarnishing the city’s brand

On September 26^th, I am speaking in a debate being organised by the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce.  The question is: “This house believes that Brighton’s night time economy is tarnishing the city’s brand”.  I will be speaking in favour of the question.  Other speakers include Justin Manning from the Queen’s Hotel, Nigel Liddell of the Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership, and Ian Chisnall, organiser of Brighton & Hove Street Pastors.

I would be interested in what you think so that I can properly think through the issues.

I come to this issue as someone who feels that, put quite simply, aspects of the night time economy threatens the economy of Brighton, including other parts of the night time economy which are essential for the economic well being of the City.

For example, take so called ‘party houses’. Rather than the traditional tourist infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, etc.) benefiting from weekend visitors and other tourists, these houses are a nightmare for neighbours. They facilitate the ‘front-loading’ of alcohol before these visitors descending on the town centre where their behaviour is often not conducive for others (guests staying in hotels, families out for dinner, theatre goers, etc.).

The spending power of those on alcohol-fuelled weekend breaks (hen and stag events) is limited.  They are focused on alcohol outlets that encourage/facilitate further drinking.  Having lived in the town centre for many years, and having represented Regency Ward on the old Brighton Borough Council, I now actively avoid going into the centre of Brighton after 8pm on a Friday or Saturday evening.  My spending power is thus denied those restaurants and facilities that might otherwise have benefited from it.

For a year I chaired the Licensing Committee on Brighton Borough Council.  That year, because of close co-operation between the Council, Sussex Police and licensees, we were able to regulate the night time economy in a way that incidents of violence were clamped down on.  Licensees who failed to co-operate risked having their Public Entertainment Licences revoked.  The result was that on New Year’s Eve 1986, there was not a single arrest for violence or drunken disorder in Brighton.

Unless we ensure that the night time economy is robustly managed, the image of the City will become tarnished, at great cost to businesses and residents alike.

Let me know what you think.

 

(Note: when this item was first posted I referred to no arrests in 2006. It should have been 1986.  My apologies).

Real Life Stories: Wayne’s Story

This is the fourth in a series of posts that record the experiences of men and women who have used one of BHT’s various services. In his own words, this is Wayne’s story:

“I’m born and bred in Brighton, lived here all my life. I felt very lonely, isolated and scared as a child and was abused sexually and in other ways. I grew up distrusting life and people in general. My progression into drugs and drink was very fierce and full on. Age eight I tried glue and gas. This then spiralled into dope, speed, acid, ecstasy, crack, drink and then heroin. I spent a total of 34 years in active addiction. My needle fixation was extreme as was all of my addiction.

“I spent a total of nine years in and out of prison due to committing crime to fund my addiction. Also many trips to hospital intensive care units, overdoses, fits, seizures, collapses and a coma.

“After trying to get clean many times through BHT’s Detox Support Project over the last eight years, I finally managed to get my recovery after completing a two and a half month detox at Detox Support Project in January 2011 and then spending eight months at the Recovery Project. The support I’ve had has been fantastic, and the staff team brilliant. My keyworker Anne at the Recovery Project I hold dear to my heart. Words cannot describe how much she helped me.

“I have a strong recovery now as I have a 12 step programme in my life. I mentor a client at Detox Support Project and also do lots of volunteer work there and at Recovery project. I’m coming up to one and a half years clean, completely free from addiction and I have a life not just an existence. How lovely to be able to give back what was freely given to me from Blythe and her team. God Bless.”