'Trauma, Drug Misuse and Transforming Identities: A Life Story Approach'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQDiY5nhWboVHblQO1I4J1zRZbepEL2DmcH9FjC1OvMcoBa-mYRw7h3kKGiKncQvolx6JpMPwXkSHP7uTruzx6YM4DhYuFEjM_MnlV8m20a7WixWu0KtO556k9sLtWoJQHVdqzZKhSsg/s1600-h/Heroin12.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187181967683508898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQDiY5nhWboVHblQO1I4J1zRZbepEL2DmcH9FjC1OvMcoBa-mYRw7h3kKGiKncQvolx6JpMPwXkSHP7uTruzx6YM4DhYuFEjM_MnlV8m20a7WixWu0KtO556k9sLtWoJQHVdqzZKhSsg/s320/Heroin12.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a><br /> 'Trauma, Drug Misuse and Transforming Identities: A Life Story Approach' by Professor Kim Etherington. Kim's book looks at the lives of ex-drug users told in their words. It illustrates the links between early childhood experiences and drug misuse, and also shows pathways to recovery and transformation.<br />The book illustrates how some people use drugs, in particular heroin, as a coping mechanism to help them deal with traumatic experiences in their childhood. Such trauma may have involved chronic parental neglect, physical and emotional abuse by parents, sexual abuse by a family member, rape by a stranger, or racial abuse and harassment. <br />Heroin and other opiates are used medically as analgesics to reduce physical pain, but they also alleviate psychological pain. It is not surprising that a traumatised person may use heroin as a coping mechanism and take up the heroin-using lifestyle. Becoming part of the heroin-using culture can also be of 'therapeutic value' because the person associates with other heroin users who may identify with their problems and past experiences. Some of these people will have had similar experiences.<br />Most non-drug users do not see beyond the heroin user stereotype - the 'dirty, devious, criminal junkie'. They do not stop to think that the heroin user may have experienced a traumatic childhood and have started along a path to addiction as a natural response to trying to deal with their resulting anguish and psychological pain. They did not set out to become an addict, and they very likely did not know the addictive potential of heroin and the heroin-using lifestyle.<br />These same non-drug users may have no problems at all with other people going to their doctor because they felt anxious or 'down' and being readily prescribed with anti-anxiety drugs (that are highly addictive) or anti-depressants. The distress these people are experiencing may be minimal compared to the heroin user described above and the necessity for prescribed drug use unjustified. However, the person wants to feel they are being 'treated', the doctor wants to keep the patient happy, and the drug company (which some people might argue is a legal drug dealer in certain circumstances) makes its profits.<br />We are in a hypocritical society which on the one hand demonises use of illegal drugs - without thinking about why these drugs might be used - whilst at the same time encouraging people to take legal prescribed drugs, which are in many cases more dangerous than legal drugs. <br />And we get bigoted comments like that reported to have been made by Tory MP David Davies last week - 'Taxpayers will be outraged that so much of their money is going to junkies and winos who will use the money simply to fund their disgusting habits.' Such people need to move past the end of their noses and get a dose of reality - assuming that they understand or care about problems experienced by other people. They must stop making naive and nasty generalisations.

'Trauma, Drug Misuse and Transforming Identities: A Life Story Approach'

'Trauma, Drug Misuse and Transforming Identities: A Life Story Approach' by Professor Kim Etherington. Kim's book looks at the ...

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Health expert has been charged with devising a strategy to reduce the financial toll of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iT0Y2oeh90WBkAsNTLlkwngkwLvPZ66bIktLbixakV43vIQZmHTTq-Ui_SkYRMaTsVMtfXsGoN2uBRkCV5Dx5Cn44rfAm7kIHHiPXHKl3c6J7zqaIhVo5_oJfqkly6FlTI9nkOED6Zw/s1600-h/N_ROXON_narrowweb__300x351,0.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187181078625278610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iT0Y2oeh90WBkAsNTLlkwngkwLvPZ66bIktLbixakV43vIQZmHTTq-Ui_SkYRMaTsVMtfXsGoN2uBRkCV5Dx5Cn44rfAm7kIHHiPXHKl3c6J7zqaIhVo5_oJfqkly6FlTI9nkOED6Zw/s200/N_ROXON_narrowweb__300x351,0.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a><br />Health expert has been charged with devising a strategy to reduce the financial toll of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced the establishment of the taskforce _ to be led by the professor of global health at the Nossal Institute of Global Health, Dr Rob Moodie _ as she released a report showing that in 2004-2005, the social cost of alcohol, tobacco use and illicit drugs was about $56 billion.Ms Roxon described the figures as "staggering''.<br />"That's an enormous amount of money and that's not just the health cost to individuals or to the health system, it's also the flow-on costs in terms of crime, lost productivity at work, people taking time off to care for others,'' she said.<br /> "So it's a very detailed analysis and a reminder to us of why it's so important to focus on prevention.''<br />The taskforce has been charged with developing a National Preventative Health Strategy by June 2009, with a focus on tobacco, alcohol and obesity.<br />It will also provide interim recommendations to be included in the Australian Health Care Agreements between the commonwealth, states and territories in July this year.<br />Ms Roxon said Australia needed a long-term strategy to ease the cost on communities.<br /> She said the time was ripe for a new approach. <br />"I think the time is right for there to be a real shift in community thinking about the way we handle some of our health problems,'' she said. "Health problems are not just about fixing hospitals, we actually have to fix some of the things that mean people end up in hospital.'' <br />The Rudd Government has committed $68 million to programs to cut binge drinking by young people and smoking by indigenous Australians. <br />But while Treasury has been asked to report on the economic benefits of the focus on disease prevention, the Government's threat of a razor gang budget next month means funding for other initiatives is likely to be pushed out for another year. <br />The commonwealth spent almost $43 billion on health in 2007-08, about 18 per cent of its total expenditure. <br />But that pales next to the estimates detailed in the report Costs of Tobacco, Alcohol and Illicit Drug Abuse, prepared by David Collins of Macquarie University and Helen Lapsley of the universities of Queensland and NSW. <br />Cigarettes accounted for more than half the annual costs to the community in 2004-05, at $31.5 billion, including $15.5 billion in lost productivity. <br />Alcohol was the next biggest offender, racking up a bill of $15.3 billion, including $3.5 billion in lost productivity and $3.1billion in road accidents. <br />Illicit drug use had an $8.2billion toll, with almost half the costs due to crime.

Health expert has been charged with devising a strategy to reduce the financial toll of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.

Health expert has been charged with devising a strategy to reduce the financial toll of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.Health Minister Nicola...

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Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDpI_JS005SPohufW8qVjcuaWNIJWvfRsXMLcLEGwtmEUkHb0235oGJIyXBkRoyYDCgT4XH5sq0VkVN2u3wrEyKB11ek_P8Sjg2Grk6q1MkOGdE2t3_rajhv3Bb0Vf1Iiy91CLCE1LRQ/s1600-h/pete-doherty-busted-400w.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187179845969664642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggDpI_JS005SPohufW8qVjcuaWNIJWvfRsXMLcLEGwtmEUkHb0235oGJIyXBkRoyYDCgT4XH5sq0VkVN2u3wrEyKB11ek_P8Sjg2Grk6q1MkOGdE2t3_rajhv3Bb0Vf1Iiy91CLCE1LRQ/s320/pete-doherty-busted-400w.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a><br />Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks yesterday after he admitted breaching a court order designed to cure his drug addiction. The Babyshambles frontman was expected to wake up in a cell in Wormwood Scrubs prison this morning after admitting missing appointments with the probation service.<br />His lawyer said tests as part of the order showed Doherty had still been using class A drugs. It is the longest spell he has faced in jail since 2003, when he was convicted of burglary. The sentence means Doherty will miss out on performing at the Glastonbury festival in June.

Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks

Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks yesterday after he admitted breaching a court order designed to cure his drug addiction. The Babyshambl...

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Action plan to reduce rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible

new ambition for all hostels to provide access to support, training and employment within the next three years to help end persistent rough sleeping, was announced today by Housing Minister Iain Wright. The Minister published an action plan to reduce rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible, with new measures to help those who have remained entrenched on the streets. <br />He announced a new aspiration for hostels to provide access to training and employment opportunities, supported by the £160 million the Government has put in place to refurbish hostels and improve their services by 2011. The Minister invited stakeholders involved in rough sleeping to join in the discussion on a package of measures to underpin the strategy, including: <br />* A renewed drive to identify and engage with the most persistent rough sleepers to get them off the streets and into a more stable environment, minimising the risk of falling back into old routines and old patterns of dependency. Groups such as older drinkers have historically been harder to reach and new models may be needed to get them in off the streets, such as personalised support. <br />* Universal access to skills programmes in hostels to develop an individual's talents and boost their confidence in stepping up and out of insecurity and dependency. The Government's £160 million investment in projects to reduce rough sleeping also includes an academy in London, which will provide former rough sleepers with opportunities to develop skills in areas of employment as diverse as restaurant management to cookery skills. <br />* A new London homeless taskforce, bringing together the Government, the voluntary sector and local authorities to better tackle rough sleeping. These key players will help to put the right solutions in place for people with complex needs, preventing them slipping through the net and back onto the streets. It will have a pan-London focus to effectively tackle rough sleeping across the capital. <br />* The provision of 500 units of private rented accommodation in London to enable those who are ready to move out of hostels, but still need some level of support, to live independently. This will free up hostel spaces for those coming in from the cold and help prevent hostels 'silting up' with those who are ready to make the next step. <br />* Increased working across government to ensure the one stop shops can provide tangible, practical support across a range of homeless issues. As well as providing skills the hostels will provide specific support for those in need, for example making sure that those with dependencies such as drugs or alcohol have access to the services they need. <br />Whilst huge progress has been made reducing the number of rough sleepers from 1,800 in 1997 to around 500 on any given night, the challenge now is help the remaining persistent rough sleepers make a permanent move away from the streets, especially in London. Some have been in a 'revolving door of homelessness' entering hostels dozens of times a year but coming back onto the streets only days later.

Action plan to reduce rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible

new ambition for all hostels to provide access to support, training and employment within the next three years to help end persistent rough ...

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Cannabis Debate

Just what is it about cannabis that makes certain politicians act so bizarrely and disconnect from reality is such spectacular fashion? And this is without even smoking it (although actually, most of them have). Moreover, there appears to be a sort of dose-response effect in evidence: The more senior they get, the more deranged they seem to become. Look at how Cameron has metamorphosed from a pragmatic backbencher and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2001 calling for cannabis to be reclassified from B to C, into a classic reactionary-right drug warrior, now as party leader, calling for it to be moved back from C to B. And see how Gordon Brown, who never made a peep about drug policy before becoming PM, is now grabbing any opportunity to wheel out his new tough line advocating mass criminalisation of young cannabis users (no child left behind) as a way of asserting his prime-ministerial strength and moral fortitude. Rational thought, it appears, is the first casualty of a drug war.<br />As anyone who has been following the seemingly endless (we are now in year 7) cannabis reclassification shenanigans knows, last week Gordon Brown strongly implied that he planned to reclassify cannabis from C back to B regardless of what the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommends at the end of this month (but with all the serious money, and BBC leaks, on them calling for stay in C). In case you don’t know the ACMD are the 30 or so Government appointed scientists and experts from the drugs field who have recently completed their marathon 4-day literature review and public consultation on the B/C question.<br />Brown’s position on this question was echoed by another recent example of how politics and emotive anecdote are trumping rationality, pragmatism and science; a Daily Telegraph op-ed last week with the willfully ignorant headline (seeming to almost revel in the idea of bad science led policy making):

Cannabis Debate

Just what is it about cannabis that makes certain politicians act so bizarrely and disconnect from reality is such spectacular fashion? And ...

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Debate on the issue of alcohol branding in sport was needed.

Old Firm sponsor Carling is to remove its logo from Rangers and Celtic children's football tops in a bid to promote responsible drinking. The move comes two years ahead of an agreed ban by the drinks industry on branding on child-size replica shirts. But an alcohol concern group has called for a total ban on alcohol sponsorship in sport. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) said a wider debate on the issue of alcohol branding in sport was needed. Carling, brewed by Coors, has sponsored Rangers and Celtic since 2003. Until now replica kits for children have been available without branding but these will become standard from next season. Jack Law, from Alcohol Focus Scotland, said he supported the move but called for a total ban. He said: "Why should fans, young or old, be exposed to so much alcohol advertising when they watch a match? "We would say that alcohol sponsorship in sport is inappropriate. "Footballers don't drink alcohol before a match to ensure peak fitness, but during the match itself they wear a top with an alcoholic drink logo on it. Alcohol and high performance do not go hand in hand."

Debate on the issue of alcohol branding in sport was needed.

Old Firm sponsor Carling is to remove its logo from Rangers and Celtic children's football tops in a bid to promote responsible drinking...

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Police confiscated 44,000 pints of alcoholic drinks during a crackdown on under-age drinking in February.

Police confiscated 44,000 pints of alcoholic drinks during a crackdown on under-age drinking in February. The 25,000 litres of drinks - mainly beer and cider - were seized during a two-week operation involving 39 forces in England and Wales. <br />It was the largest ever enforcement operation of its kind, with alcohol seized from more than 5,000 youths. The Home Office said information from the £700,000 operation would help target individuals and trouble spots. Seventy per cent of the drink seized was beer, 15 % cider, 5% alcopops, 5% wine and 5% spirits. <br />When police asked the under-age drinkers where the alcohol came from, 70% refused to say, while of the remaining 30% half said they got the drink from a shop.

Police confiscated 44,000 pints of alcoholic drinks during a crackdown on under-age drinking in February.

Police confiscated 44,000 pints of alcoholic drinks during a crackdown on under-age drinking in February. The 25,000 litres of drinks - main...

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The Centre for Policy Studies today announces the establishment of a specialist Prison and Addiction Unit (PandA).

The Centre for Policy Studies today announces the establishment of a specialist Prison and Addiction Unit (PandA).Remit<br />PandA’s aim is to challenge the Government’s fundamentally flawed drug policy.<br />It will scrutinise this rapidly expanding but largely unmonitored area of government intervention. PandA will advocate restricting the supply of drugs; and the provision of effective treatment to help those suffering from addiction to make a full recovery. Neither of these aims are being achieved by current government policy (despite claims to the contrary).In the words of PandA member Professor Neil Mckeganey (Professor of Drug Misuse Research. University of Glasgow):<br />"I believe nothing short of a revolution in drug abuse treatment in the UK is required. This must recognize the unparalleled harms of illegal drug use and addiction and must focus first and foremost on getting addicts off drugs."<br />PandA will study all aspects of drugs and alcohol supply, treatment policy, prevention and education in the UK. Key themes it will consider include:<br />- the centralisation of the management of treatment and why it is wrong<br />- the new prisons ‘integrated drugs treatment strategy’ and its dangers<br />- the effective, as opposed to ineffective, treatment of addiction<br />- the liberalisation of the control of supply of drugs and alcohol and its damaging consequences<br />- the national ‘harm reduction’ drugs education programme and its implications and consequences<br />- what a prevention policy could look like<br />Membership of PandA<br />Kathy Gyngell (Chair)<br />Mary Brett (Drugs Education Consultant, UK Representative EURAD)<br />Chris Cook (Professorial Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, formerly Professor of the Psychiatry Of Alcohol Misuse , University of Kent)<br />Huseyin Djemil (former London Area Drugs Strategy Coordinator, HM Prison Service, Consultant – Drug Strategy, Operations and Research) <br />Andy Horwood (former Drugs Action Team Coordinator for Bedfordshire and Luton) <br />James Langton (Founder of The Clearhead Recovery Programme)<br />Neil McKeganey (Professor of Drug Misuse Research. University of Glasgow) <br />Michelle Tempest (Psychiatrist, Addenbrokes Hospital, Cambridge)<br />David Partington (General Secretary, International Substance Abuse and Addiction Centre ISAAC)<br />Dr K A H Mirza (Consultant to the group) <br />All members serve in a personal capacity. The views expressed in its publications and announcements are the sole responsibility of the authors. Contributions are chosen for their value in informing public debate and should not be taken as representing a corporate view of the CPS or of PandA.<br />Comment<br />Members of PandA are available for comment on all aspects of government prison and addiction policy. Enquiries should be sent to Kathy Gyngell at Kathy@gyngell.me.uk. Kathy can be contacted directly on 020 7351 6612

The Centre for Policy Studies today announces the establishment of a specialist Prison and Addiction Unit (PandA).

The Centre for Policy Studies today announces the establishment of a specialist Prison and Addiction Unit (PandA).Remit PandA’s aim is to ch...

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Government’s revised drug strategy (Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities, 2008 -2018 Strategy,

Who could fail to disagree with the sentiments behind the government’s revised drug strategy (Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities, 2008 -2018 Strategy, Home Office, 27 February 2008)? Strengthening communities, working together, “a clear commitment to meet the needs of all our diverse communities”, and “preventing harm to children, young people and families affected by drug misuse” are hardly controversial. But does this report avoid controversy because, like its predecessors, it lacks direction, critical reflection, and a fundamental understanding of the complex problem at hand?<br />In fact this new strategy is even more all-encompassing, woolly and vague. Instead of challenging the incompatibility of addicts’ wants – of their aspirations for normalcy along with continuing drug dependency (whether on licit or illicit drugs) – the Government continues to ask us to suspend disbelief and to muddy the waters of policy by asserting that it has met, is meeting and managing this incompatible demand.<br />Unsurprisingly then the strategy document fails to look critically at the treatment system of its own creation, one that is overburdened by bureaucracy but undermanned in terms of real skill and knowledge in relation to treatment.

Government’s revised drug strategy (Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities, 2008 -2018 Strategy,

Who could fail to disagree with the sentiments behind the government’s revised drug strategy (Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities, 20...

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