Keep up-to-date with drugs and crime

The latest research, policy, practice and opinion on our criminal justice and drug & alcohol treatment systems
Click to Subscribe
Search

Alcohol & Drugs

All the latest news: Policy Practice Innovation Treatment Drug Use Trends

Here you can find over 400 posts tracking every major development in the substance misuse sector since 2011. You can keep up with latest treatment stats, funding news, policy developments and treatment innovations. If you’re looking for something in particular, try the search box below.
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

Heroin driving force behind crime trends

The most convincing aspects of Morgan’s hypothesis are the way that is able to match local crime rates with peak levels of heroin use (although, unfortunately, he has to use the now-defunct Addicts Index as the indicator of heroin dependency). Atypical areas where heroin use peaked earlier (Merseyside, Edinburgh and the Republic of Ireland) or not at all (Northern Ireland) show very close correlation between the rise and fall of crime rates.

26th September 2014
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

Ambitious for recovery?

The report is engagingly direct in its criticisms of our drug treatment centre, saying that is still too focused on maintaining dependent users on methadone and other substitute drugs and failing to help them sustain recovery and life productive lives. It claims: “For years full recovery has been the preserve of the wealthy – closed off to the poorest people and to those with problems who need to rely on a public system.”

12th September 2014
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

The State of the Drug Treatment Sector

Survey respondents were asked to identify the top three priorities and challenges for their own services. Nearly 60% said that funding and service capacity was a priority; and about one third were concerned about both the frequency and quality of the recommissioning process, and staffing levels and morale.

14th February 2014
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

US tweeters resolve to smoke more marijuana in 2014

Although I tend to agree with the arguments of those who contend that the War on Drugs has caused more problems than it has solved, I’m still instinctively sceptical about the merits of legalising drugs on the basis that it’s always a lot harder to get the genie back in the bottle.

10th January 2014
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

Drug treatment helps recovery but is not enough on its own

Measuring drug recovery is problematic, to say the least. Recovery from drug dependence is, like desistance from crime, rarely a linear process and typically includes lapse and relapse over many years. Different people choose different recovery goals: some people remain abstinent from all substances for life; others continue to use occasionally; or replace drug dependence with a reliance on alcohol.

11th December 2013
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

Can sobriety bracelets help tackle domestic violence?

The bracelet itself looks like a slightly larger version of a normal electronic tag. The sensor on the tag has to be next to bare skin because the “transdermal” technology works by analysing perspiration. When alcohol is consumed, approximately 1% is not metabolised but is excreted through the skin via perspiration.

20th November 2013
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

DrugScope on compulsory drug testing and Transforming Rehabilitation

Marcus Roberts, Director of Policy for DrugScope, gives his views in the latest in a series of interviews about the MoJ’s probation reform programme: Transforming Rehabilitation. Marcus welcomes the ambition and potential of TR but expresses concerns about a number of key issues:

18th November 2013
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

The real cost of the war on drugs

In 2011, fewer than half of all violent crimes in the USA found any resolution. An alarming 59% of rape cases and 36.2% of murders in the United States are never solved. Why are so many violent criminals walking free? Professor Alex Kreit suggests that U.S. police forces should stop focusing so much of their resources on enforcing drug laws…

3rd October 2013
Alcohol/Drugs/Gambling

How drug treatment is following drug dealing onto the internet

The internet has revolutionised the way that drugs are created and sold. There is an increasing number of online drug dealing sites and now treatment is getting in on the online act with a proliferation of computer assisted therapies.

20th May 2013

connect on social

Twitter Facebook-f Linkedin-in Youtube

© Russell Webster 2024

Click to Subscribe
Back to Top

Privacy Preference Center

Consent Management

Privacy Policy

Required
You read and agreed to our Privacy Policy.

Subscribe

Get every blog post by email for free

No Thanks