Will Somebody Get A Grip?

"We are fighting Germany, Austria and drink; and as far as I can see, the greatest of these three deadly foes is drink".  Thus spoke David Lloyd George in 1915.  The war on alcohol abuse is not new; neither is the war on drugs.  In the mid nineteenth century Britain went to war with China in order to secure the right to trade opium through its ports.  In a painful reversal of principle, British soldiers are currently dying in Afghanistan partly to deny the Taliban a similar trading opportunity.  The brave troops that make it back will quite likely bring with them a drink problem.

In both wars, drugs and alcohol, you can choose your battlefield: moral, religious, medical or economic.  The supportive arguments marshalled by each side are complex, deeply held and often ferocious.  If you stick your head above the barricade, you will definitely attract a bullet; but there are some still prepared to run the risk.  The evidence assembled by Dr David Nutt and his colleagues recently in The Lancet to demonstrate the crisis of alcohol misuse is compelling.  Not only is the work expertly constructed, as you would expect from some of the UK's most gifted scientists, it is delivered with conviction borne of frustration.  They are clearly cheesed off with being consistently ignored by governments which ask the question but don't like the answer.  There are currently two overwhelming truths dominating the arena of substance misuse in the UK.  Firstly, the war on drugs currently classed as illegal is not being won.  Even in countries where death is the penalty for drug dealing, law enforcement alone is ineffective in dissuading suppliers.  Secondly, taken in the round, alcohol is now the most damaging drug in the UK.  The combination of these awful realities, given the overall impact on society, presents one of the key challenges of our age; a challenge which is being quite deliberately ducked.  The real answer, as Bill Clinton famously recognised, lies within the economics.

The war on smoking tobacco is being won, and the war on alcohol misuse is being lost, largely on the economic battlefield.  Cigarettes are priced to discourage, whilst lager is cheaper than water.  Our best hope of inducing more responsible attitudes towards other recreational drugs is to learn the lessons of both success and failure in these domains.  The economics of alcohol consumption in the UK are managed by the major drink companies.  Ever cheaper products, targeted marketing and aggressive promotions have been highly successful, if you happen to manufacture alcoholic drinks.  It's been a nightmare for lots of other people.  Much worse still, the entire economic strategy for drug consumption is in the hands of violent psychopaths, be they Colombian barons, Helmand warlords or Manchester gangsters.  It is ridiculous that we have relegated such massive threats to health, rule of law and social well-being to these patently self-interested stakeholders.  It is time for equally hard-headed but more benign generals to take the high ground.  We need state intervention in both these commodities.  As the government has just painfully realised, some markets you can happily leave alone and some require determined regulation.  Both junk bonds and junk are firmly in the latter category.

After 34 years in the trench of attrition that is policing substance misuse I retired to tend the wounded - and dying.  From both perspectives I know that hundreds of thousands of people in this country are suffering the consequences of failure to confront the fundamentals of drug and alcohol economics.  Will somebody get a grip?

prevention is better than Prevention

The work of US campaigner Barbara Harris and Project Prevention has recently captured the news headlines.  The scheme is designed to tackle the problem of children born to drug and alcohol addicts and offers cash to users who agree to be sterilised.

There is without question a significant risk to any child parented by a drug or alcohol user.  In extreme cases babies can be born with an inherited drug dependency.  There are a number of ways the problem can be confronted, including education, early counselling intervention and long-term contraception.  Project Prevention goes significantly further than this by seeking to dissuade anyone with a drug or alcohol problem from ever having children.  I think, however well-intentioned this scheme, the project is fundamentally misguided.  A young man or woman with a profound substance habit is by definition in no fit state to make a life-changing decision of this magnitude.  This particularly applies to women, where the sterilisation process is unlikely to be reversible.  It is also the case, and we in CAIS know this, that substance misusers can turn their lives around to the extent that they can become competent and loving parents.

I would ask anyone tempted to approve of Project Prevention to consider what the average drug addict is likely to do with the £200 received in exchange for sterilisation.  It is in fact asking vulnerable young women to exchange their womb for 20 bags of heroin.  This is not a piece of social engineering we should be embracing in the UK.

New Year, New Site

Welcome to the new CAIS website.  We have tried to make our new internet presence attractive, informative and easy to use for people seeking help and advice.

The launch of the new site coincides exactly with the anniversary of my appointment to CAIS.  It has been a fascinating, testing and stimulating experience for me to be part of shaping the work of CAIS at a time of enormous change in public services.

Substance misuse persists as one of the key social challenges of our time - in fact its impact on all our lives grows by the day.  In the face of losing job, support and hope, people respond in different ways.  Some withdraw from the world they knew; some commit crime; some turn to drugs, alcohol or other consolations.  We are entering a period of retrenchment in which, according to the TUC chief, Britain may become a "dark, brutish and frightening place".  I certainly believe the next few years will require all of us, through our work or through our social connections, to look for the signs and symptoms of despair.  There are choices to be made.  For individuals it might mean the choice between fighting to thrive, and simply giving up.  For communities, there may be a judgment between inclusion and ostracisation.  For governments, there may be the opportunity to rethink policies that, driven by economic opportunity on the one hand and coercion on the other, have led to a cycle of nihilistic and costly disregard.

What is sure is that CAIS and its partner agencies can have a critical role in taking people out of despondency, tackling the culture of substance and service dependency, and changing opinions about the way we tackle substance misuse and the individuals who fall victim to it.

I am privileged to work alongside many talented and dedicated individuals who are capable of transforming lives; and I look forward to continuing the journey with them.

Looking Back - and Forward

The New Year always brings an opportunity to make predictions and promises about the future. It is also, certainly as far as I’m concerned, a time for retrospection. I recently had the opportunity to wallow in personal nostalgia through a kind invitation to appear on the TAPED Radio Puffin Island Discs show. Following the usual format, I had to choose five favourite songs, a favourite DVD, a book and a luxury item to accompany me on my castaway paradise. For the record, my selections were:

Songs:

1. Norwegian Wood - The Beatles

2. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin

3. Jacky - Marc Almond

4. Sit Down - James

5. Killing the Blues - Robert Plant/Alison Krauss

Book:

Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe

DVD:

The Wire

Luxury Item:

A saxophone

You will see that I have chosen discs representing each of the decades in which I have been listening to popular music, and I am sure you will agree that it is an outstanding selection. You can hear the whole programme at www.tapedradio.co.uk. Any feedback is welcome.

2010 has enjoyed an interesting start, with the adverse weather conditions presenting all sorts of challenges. I am very proud of the way CAIS staff have risen to the occasion in ensuring the continuity of services. Provision of meals to the homeless has been maintained at a time when it has most been needed. Other staff have found themselves snowed in at residential units and have cheerfully worked around the clock. With this spirit of commitment and resourcefulness, I believe 2010 bodes well for CAIS and, just maybe, the country in general.