Reduce the harm caused by drugs and alcohol

Drugs

Illegal drugs cause harm and ruin to individuals, families and communities, with the most vulnerable and deprived amongst us often being the hardest hit.

For individuals, drug misuse leads to wasted potential, broken relationships and, for some, a life of crime to feed their habit. For the wider community, efforts to lift children out of poverty, promote equality of opportunity and reduce crime are held back when families and communities are in the grip of drug use.

The Partnership has been following the lead set by Government in its first Drugs Strategy, published in 1998, by working to tackle drug dealers and disrupt their activities, educating young people so they can resist involvement with drugs, and providing effective drug treatment for those with misuse issues.

Our priorities for 2008 – 2011

• Tackling the problem of poly-drug use (use of more than one drug) by many users in the Borough, particularly those in the 16 – 25 and 30 – 34 age groups.
• Focusing prevention activity on the most prevalent trigger offences – vehicle crime accounted for 19% of such offences committed during 2006/07.
• Providing continued education and advice for young people to ensure they are fully aware of the dangers of drug use – 17% of school children in England have used an illegal drug in the last year.
• Continuing the development of abstinence-based services throughout the Borough.
• Further work to disrupt drug supply markets across the Borough in relation to Class A drugs and cannabis farms, as the current purity and price of Class A drugs in the Borough indicates no shortage of supply.
• Focusing activity on those areas of the Borough that suffer from the most significant problems of drug use and dealing.
• Further developing the approach to dealing with prostitution, which balances enforcement activities to deter kerb-crawlers and a programme of intensive support to those involved in sex work to promote their personal and social rehabilitation .

Our targets

• Increasing the number of drug users recorded as being in effective treatment (NI 40).
• Reducing the rate of drug-related offending (NI 38).
• Reducing the percentage of the public who perceive drug use or dealing to be a problem in their area (NI 42).
• Reducing levels of substance misuse by young people (NI 115) .
• Increasing further the number of schools achieving Healthy Schools Standard to 100% by 2010 (LAA Stretch target).
• Increasing the number of warrants executed in relation to the supply of Class A drugs and prevalence of cannabis farms (GMP Force target) .

Alcohol

Our relationship with drink in this country is a complicated one. Encouraging everyone who drinks to do so in a safe, sensible and social way is a challenge. Most of us do drink sensibly (though a bit more than we think we do at times), but there is a proportion that don’t, and their behaviour can lead to drunken violence, criminal damage and a packed-out A&E unit every Friday and Saturday night. The significant minority who don’t know when to stop drinking are a huge financial drain on resources – around £20 billion per year is spent nationally on tackling the ill health and crime and disorder that result.

The Government has just launched ‘Safe, Sensible, Social’, its updated Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy, which aims to build on the progress made by partner agencies since the first version was published in 2004.

Locally, the Partnership has had its own local Alcohol Strategy in place since 2005 and has made good progress on a number of fronts, particularly the numbers of people with alcohol problems accessing treatment services. There is much to do, however. The Borough’s level of alcohol-related crime is the second highest in Greater Manchester, only City Centre Manchester seeing higher figures. Levels of ‘binge drinking’ and hospitalisation as a consequence of alcohol misuse are issues of concern. As with any other strategic priority, the Partnership is committed to working in a joined-up way with local agencies, services and the community to bring about tangible improvements in the quality of life of people with alcohol problems and reducing the impact alcohol misuse can have on local people and the local economy.

Our priorities for 2008 – 2011

• Reducing the level of alcohol-related crime and disorder in the Borough.
• Focusing in particular on tackling anti-social behaviour associated with alcohol.
• Implementing measures contained in the Youth Alcohol Action Plan, when published in April 2008, including improving alcohol education in schools and tackling parental alcohol misuse that can influence young people’s own consumption.
• Reducing the level of binge drinking in the Borough.
• Reducing the number of males in the Borough who are hospitalised as a consequence of alcohol misuse.
• Increasing further the number of alcohol misusers accessing treatment through greater numbers of direct referrals from custody suites and A&E units.
• Focusing activity on those neighbourhoods in the Borough that experience the most significant problems relating to alcohol misuse.
• Extending the ‘Health Bytes’ resource to schools across the Borough.

Our targets

• Increase the number of active clients engage with alcohol treatment services (LAA stretch target).
• Reducing the percentage of people who perceive drunk or rowdy behaviour to be a problem in their area (NI 41).
• Reducing levels of substance misuse by young people (NI 115).

Performance on tackling alcohol-related problems will also contribute to achievement of the target within NI 15 to reduce the level of serious violent crime, and to health improvement targets within PSAs 17 and 18.