Tag Archives: public health

Drug and Alcohol Conference 5th July 2012

The Drugs & Alcohol Today exhibition co-hosted with the 16th Annual Sussex DAAT Drug & Alcohol conference

Thursday 5th July 2012               Holiday Inn, Brighton

The event features a full programme of CPD accredited seminars and the exhibition of local, regional and national organisations and projects.

Only £30 to attend, with free places available to people currently using drug and/or alcohol services, unwaged, full-time students and volunteers.

How to register to attend

Exhibitors include

  • ADFAM
  • Pavilion bookshop
  • Brighton & Hove Drug & Alcohol Action Team
  • Frontier Medical Group
  • Action for Change
  • Blithe Computer Systems
  • Phoenix Futures
  • Kenward Trust
  • Open University
  • Trust the Process Counselling
  • Illy Systems

Seminars include

  • Drugs strategy update: the current landscape
  • Unpicking the alcohol recovery agenda: how can local authorities combine responsibilities and resources to maximum benefit?
  • The long view: what does the future look like for the sector without a national champion?
  • Managing substance misuse during pregnancy
  • What does recovery mean for families?
  • Prevention, alcohol, and young people
  • Transitions for young people
  • Case Study: Delivering an effective early intervention model for drugs & alcohol – Nottingham DrugAware Programme
  • Resilience
  • Recovery Pathway
  • Case Study: The Frequent Flyers Project
  • Case Study: The hostel-based Clinical Nurse Pilot
  • Peer mentoring, SMART and volunteering
  • Drug & alcohol consultations in A&E
  • Workforce support & development
  • Case study: Operation Street
  • Joint commissioning for substance misuse
  • The role of GPs in recovery

Speakers include

  • Martin Barnes, Chief Executive, DrugScope
  • Eric Appleby, Chief Executive, Alcohol Concern
  • Carole Sharma, Chief Executive, Federation of Drug & Alcohol Professionals
  • Richard Pike, South East Recovery Community Coordinator, CRI
  • Joss Smith, Director of Policy and Regional Development, ADFAM
  • Andy Winter, Chief Executive, Brighton Housing Trust
  • Mark Gilman, National Strategic Recovery Lead, National Treatment Agency
  • Sergeant Richard Siggs, Sussex Police
  • Nicola Singleton, Director of Policy Research, UKDPC
  • Tom Scanlon, Director of Public Health, NHS Brighton & Hove

We must have that mature debate about drugs, and we must include alcohol

During the election campaign there was a debate amongst candidates about drug policy.  I commented at the time that the debate was too important to have during an election campaign and that there was a need for a mature debate once the heightened state of affairs that characterise election campaigns had calmed down.

In today’s Argus, the city’s Director of Public Health, Tom Scanlon, receives coverage for his annual report. He reports that there are 53,000 hazardous drinkers, just over 24% of the population aged over 16.  He said: “Put simply, it is not overstating the case to say that in Brighton and Hove an awful lot of people die or fall ill as a result of alcohol consumption, while the lives of many others are disrupted and in some cases ruined”.

Recorded alcohol related hospital admissions rose from 855 per 100,000 of the population in 2003/04 to 1,870 per 100,000 in 208/09.

It is time for that mature debate on drugs, and we must include the most dangerous drug of all, alcohol, in that debate.