drug misuse

In March 2008, a new 10 year national drugs strategy document was published: Drugs: protecting families and communities. This new drug strategy presents an agenda which strongly reinforces the main points of the last strategy with its emphasis on crime reduction and community safety. Like its predecessor, it says less about individual health and social outcomes. In the same month the United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission, (UKDPC), an independent think tank, published a major report on the drugs strategy and its key focus criminal justice.

This literature review provides a comprehensive report on the relationship between drug use, impaired driving and traffic accidents. It covers methodological issues, presents results of prevalence surveys among drivers and provides an overview of findings from major international epidemiological surveys published since 1999. The report also gathers evidence from experimental and field studies of the relationship between drug use, driving impairment and traffic accidents.

An exploration of the experiences of young people (15-27 years) affected by parental drug and/or alcohol misuse. This report provides an in-depth account of the impact of parental substance misuse on parenting, on roles within the family, and on relationships. It identifies differences in the effects of drug and alcohol misuse and the relevance of gender and socio-economic status.

This episode of Radio 4's Woman's Hour series looks at why drug addiction is on the increase. The number of women taking drugs has always lagged behind the number of men, but research shows that the ratio of girls to boys aged just 11 who've admitted using drugs is roughly the same. It's also claimed that the number of children placed on the child protection register because their parents have a drugs problem now exceeds those children listed because their parents drink.

In spring 2008, DrugScope hosted a series of seminars on the future of drug treatment. The Great Debate gathered together DrugScope members, along with other experts and stakeholders with direct experience of drug treatment, representing a range of different views and treatment philosophies.

This summary sets out the main findings from a review of the recent literature on strategies to tackle illicit drug markets and distribution networks in the UK. The report was commissioned by the UK Drug Policy Commission and has been prepared by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, School of Law, King’s College London. This review restricted itself to domestic measures for tackling the drugs trade.

Paper dealing with the social evils of UK society as experienced by people whose voices are not usually heard. Workshops/discussion groups with lone parents, ex-offenders, unemployed and other vulnerable and socially excluded people were used to explore personal experiences of living and coping with social evils. Ideas for overcoming them suggest a combined individual and collective responsibility to take forward social change.

An exploration of the impact which one son or daughter with a drug problem can have on the rest of the family.

A presentation on families, lifestyles and drugs and how to reach families in prevention.

This is the second report from the National Forum on Drug-related Deaths. The drug death statistics published each year in the General Register of Scotland (GROS) report are fundamental to the work of the National Forum. This year the GROS report was more detailed than ever before. The report confirmed a disappointing but not unexpected trend.