Combating Drugs
Tuesday June 10th 2008, Commonwealth Club - London, 09:00 - 16:00
Combating Drugs – Changing Lives: Enforcement, Prevention and Treatment
""The Government's ambition is clear. We want to see fewer people start using drugs and for our society to be free from the problems caused by drugs. We want those who do use drugs to enter and finish treatment and move on to lead healthy, drug-free lives. We want communities to be free of drug-related crime and we want see tough enforcement of the law."
Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary, February 27th 2008
Overview
The Government re-emphasised its commitment to tackle drug use with the launch of its new ten year drug strategy (February 27th 2008). This year the Government will invest almost £1 billion in ‘Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities’ by earlier intervention to get drug using families into treatment; new asset seizure powers to reduce incentives for delivering crime; and delivering new approaches to drug treatment. The vision for the Government's new ten year Drugs Strategy is a society free of the problems caused by drugs, with fewer young people using drugs and ensuring that those who enter treatment complete it and re-establish their lives, making a positive contribution. It also aims to cut drug related crime and reduce the harm that drugs cause to individuals, families and whole communities.
The relation between drug use and crime is a subject of much debate. Not all drug takers commit crime. The ‘official guess’ of the cost of drug addiction is somewhere between £10 billion and £18 billion a year – mostly in crime and its consequences. Drug users may steal £13,000 a year just to survive. What is not debateable is the strain that it puts on public services, communities and the individual abuser, and with its new strategy alongside other measures, the Government continues committed to tackle it head-on.
As the Government seeks to tackle substance misuse that continues to blight many communities up and down the country, delegates at this inside government event will have the opportunity to discuss and debate the main strands of the drug strategy and related issues, most notably;
| 09:00 | Registration and Coffee |
| 09:40 | Chair’s Welcome Kai Rudat, Director, Stakeholder Engagement and Communication, Office for Public Management (OPM) |
| 09:50 | Opening Address: Ending Dependency, Transforming Lives Karen Biggs, Chief Executive, Phoenix Futures |
| 10:00 | Panel Session 1: From Policy to Practice: Treatment, Prevention and Enforcement Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive, Turning Point Paul Pearce, Chief Superintendent, Sussex Police Danny Kushlick, Director, Transform Dr Brian Iddon MP, Chair, All Party Misuse of Drugs Group |
| 11:00 | Questions and Answers Session |
| 11:45 | Coffee and Networking |
| 12:00 | Panel Session 2: Prevention and Treatment Best Practice Martin Lee, Head, Prison Service Drugs Strategy Unit Dianne Kennard, Programme Manager, Department of Health |
| 12:30 | Questions and Answers Session |
| 13:00 | Lunch and Networking |
| 14:00 | Panel Session 3: Treating Young Substance Misusers: Practitioner Martin Barnes, Chief Executive, DrugScope |
| 15:10 | Questions and Answers Session |
| 15:35 | Closing Address: Substance Misuse Education Professor llana Crome, Professor of Addiction Psychiatry and Academic Director of Psychiatry at Keele University and Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust |
| 15:50 | Questions and Answers Session |
| 16:00 | Close |
Audience
The audience will be representative of the diversity of the issue and the stakeholders present will include, community safety teams, police & fire authorities, LSPs, housing organisations, CDRPs, drug and alcohol action teams, youth offending teams, town centre managers, transport authorities, social workers, neighbourhood wardens, victims support, children’s trusts, ALOs, education authorities, licensing teams, social inclusion officers, community cohesion officers, schools, local criminal justice boards, prison/probation service, PCTs, central government departments & bodies, unions, academia, the private, legal & voluntary sectors and all those involved in tackling substance misuse.