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. They each produce
their own annual plan.
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 Talk to 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 and
highlighted problems faced by vulnerable young
people, including the children of drug misusing parents as also
described in the Government's Hidden Harm report and
Positive Futures programme.
Drug Interventions Programme (DIP)
People who misuse heroin or crack/cocaine often commit crime to fund their
drug habit. The DIP aims to get these people out of crime and
into drug treatment, breaking the cycle of drugs-crime-prison. It does
this by providing a range of interventiuons to engage and keep drug
users in treatment at all stages of the criminal justice process.
Our role is to work with the organisations responsible for running
the programme across the North East. 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. More information on drug treatment
in the region.
