Drug Strategy 2010. Reducing Demand, Restricting Supply, Building Recovery: Supporting People to Live a Drug Free Life
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Drug Strategy 2010. Reducing Demand, Restricting Supply, Building Recovery: Supporting People to Live a Drug Free Life.

HM Government.
HM Government, 2010.
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2010 English national drug strategy: "A fundamental difference [from] those that have gone before is that instead of focusing primarily on reducing the harms caused by drug misuse, [we will] go much further and offer every support for people to choose recovery as an achievable way out of dependency."

Summary The following text is taken largely from the Impact assessment for the drug strategy 2010.

Our coalition programme sets out the Government’s ambition to bear down on the supply of illicit drugs, introduce a system of temporary bans on so called ‘legal highs’ and to build a recovery-led system to enable individuals to become free of drug or alcohol dependence and contribute to society. Therefore, the objective of introducing these policies is to deliver these commitments and build momentum to tackle drugs and drug-driven crime, whilst also enabling and supporting people to become free of their dependence.

The key policy objectives are:
• Reduce demand for illicit drugs by preventing use and restricting the supply of illicit drugs into the UK;
• Support those dependent on drugs and alcohol to recover, ensuring more people are tackling their dependence, recovering fully and contributing to society.

The intended outcomes will be:
• Reduced illicit and other harmful drug use;
• Increased number recovering from their dependence on drugs or alcohol.

The Drug Strategy will be structured around three themes: Reducing Demand; Restricting Supply; and Building Recovery.

Reduce Demand

Creating an environment where the vast majority of people who have never taken drugs continue to resist any pressures to do so, and making it easier for those who do to stop.

• Families will be supported to give their children the best possible start in life.
• Family Nurse Partnerships will develop the parental capacity of mothers and fathers within potentially vulnerable families.
• A national campaign will focus on helping to turn around the lives of those families with the most complex needs. This will be supported by establishing Community Budgets for 16 local areas from April 2011.
• We will make sure school staff have the information, advice and the power to:
– provide accurate information on drugs and alcohol through drug education and targeted information via the FRANK service;
– tackle problem behaviour in schools, with wider powers of search and confiscation. We will make it easier for heads to take action against pupils who are found to be dealing drugs in school;
– work with local voluntary organisations, the police and others to prevent drug or alcohol misuse.
• All young people should be able to remain in education or training until the age of 18. As part of raising the participation age we will ensure financial support is available to the most disadvantaged young people, giving them the best start to adulthood and preparing them for employment or higher education.
• We will simplify funding to local authorities, including the creation of a single Early Intervention Grant, worth £2 billion by 2014–15.
• New funding arrangements for youth justice services will incentivise local authorities to find innovative ways to reduce the number of young people who commit crime, including tackling drug or alcohol misuse where this is part of the reason for their offending.
• Young people whose drug or alcohol misuse has already started to cause harm, or who are at risk of becoming dependent, will have rapid access to specialist support that tackles their drug and alcohol misuse alongside any wider issues they face.

Restrict Supply

We must make the UK an unattractive destination for drug traffickers by attacking their profits and driving up their risks.

• The introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).
• The formation of new National Crime Agency (NCA).
• We will strengthen coordination between police and local partners.
• Integrated Offender Management (IOM) will reach out beyond traditional partners to other voluntary and private sector providers and engage the public in creating and delivering solutions.
• We will explore the potential of new technologies to disrupt drugs from entering and being traded within prisons.
• We will share intelligence across police forces, National Crime Agency, UK Border Agency and others to increase our understanding.
• Reduce the risk of harm from new psychoactive substances, so called ‘legal highs’, by introducing a system of temporary bans while the health issues are considered by independent experts.
• We will establish an effective forensic early warning system.
• We will introduce technology at the borders to assist with the identification of new drugs.
• Work with UK based internet providers to ensure they comply with the letter and spirit of UK law.
• We want to ramp up the use of money laundering prosecutions, and increasingly disrupt criminal finances through criminal and civil recovery and asset denial.
• We will develop a comprehensive approach to tackle the trade in drug precursors (chemicals frequently used in or for the illicit production of drugs) and cutting agents, working with production countries, the legitimate trade and international partners.
• We will continue to implement and regulate a national system of domestic control through the operation of an effective licensing and compliance regime.

Recovery

For those who are dependent on drugs and alcohol, we will build on the huge investment in treatment to ensure more people are tackling their dependency and recovering fully.

• We will increase the focus within treatment on recovery, with the overarching aim of increasing numbers recovering from their dependence.
• We will continue to provide training for Jobcentre Plus advisers to give them the skills to recognise drug and alcohol dependence, and know where to refer people for assessment. Jobcentre Plus will also continue to work in close partnership with drug and alcohol services at a local level, and will offer face to face support, advice and guidance on benefits and employment, through outreach where practical and appropriate, to service users and the drug and alcohol professionals who support them.
• We will introduce six pilots to explore how payment by results can work for drugs recovery for adults, which will also provide evidence on affordability and value for money as part of the evaluation of these pilots.
• We will also support communities to build networks of ‘recovery champions’.
• Development of a benefit system that promotes engagement with recovery services.
• We will explore building appropriate incentives into the universal credit system to encourage treatment take-up.
• Employment support will be funded on an outcomes basis, using benefit savings freed up when people engage with recovery services move into employment or full-time education.

Last revised 16 December 2010. First uploaded

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