Government Offices are working with regional partners to deliver the Government’s National Drug Strategy, via both Drugs Action Teams and the Drugs Intervention Programme.
More information on the national picture
In October 2007 the Government published new drugs and alcohol targets for 2008-11 and in February 2008 the Home Office published the next National Drug Strategy for the next 10 years.
There are twelve multi-agency partnerships in the North East responsible for local delivery of the current Drug Strategy. Their key areas of work across the region include:
- delivering drug misuse programmes to vulnerable young people at an early stage, for example, by providing appropriate drug treatment services
- providing drug information for all young people and families, for example, through FRANK campaigns
- having an integrated approach to cutting drug-related crime, through the Drug Interventions Programme
- providing more, better and fairer drug treatment
- addressing issues around housing and employment and engaging effectively with communities, for example, through public meetings, questionnaires and training – this is linked closely with the Prolific and Other Priority Offender and Reducing Reoffending strategies
- reducing drug supply within local communities, for example, through disrupting drug markets and closing crack houses.
Young people
In 2005, the government published Every Child Matters: Change for Children, Young People and Drugs to strengthen links between National Drug Strategy and other policies. The document introduced High Focus Areas in which a range of programmes aimed at young people, particularly those most likely to be affected by drug misuse, are being piloted. The programme is running in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton and Sunderland. It also highlighted problems faced by vulnerable young people, including the children of drug misusing parents.
Drug Interventions Programme (DIP)
People who misuse heroin or crack/cocaine often commit crime to fund their drug habit. The DIP began in 2003 and aims to get these people out of crime and into drug treatment, breaking the cycle of drugs-crime-prison.
All areas provide a range of interventions to engage drug users in treatment at all stages of the criminal justice process. In areas where acquisitive crime is highest an intensive programme including drug testing on arrest, is being delivered. In the North East, these areas are Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Newcastle, Stockton and Sunderland.
Hartlepool and Newcastle have successfully rolled out a restriction on bail scheme, which requires drug users coming before the courts, to have an assessment and referral to treatment as a condition of their bail.
Award winning anti-drug driving campaign
We are backing a major regional anti-drug driving initiative, aimed at increasing awareness of the penalties for being caught driving under the influence of illegal drugs.
The latest stage of the Drug Driving – You'd Be Off Your Head campaign demonstrates a real partnership approach. We are working with a group of key public sector organisations, including the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association (LARSOA) and the drug action teams across the region. The campaign is supported by all three Police forces in the North East.
