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DDN May 2023
‘We can build on what works well for us’ ‘Encountering difficulty remains a fact of life,’ writes Lisa Ogilvie (p6) and we know that for many people involved with treatment services, the dice have...
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The DDN Conference 2023
Many roads to an amazing day! The DDN Conference 2023 We’ve consulted, we’ve listened, we’ve debated. So here’s how we’re taking on board your ideas for this year’s DDN Conference. The theme of this...
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DDN June 2023
‘Everyone will gain from sharing experiences’ We’re in the final run-up to the annual DDN Conference on 13 July. We’ll hear from people with personal experience of all the issues reflected in our...
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My road, my choice
This year the DDN conference name is important. It recognises that there are many roads users (of both drugs and alcohol) walk and many different destinations we seek to get to. The DDN Conference, 13...
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DDN July 2023
If we can’t fit in, we ‘become the problem’ British South Asian women with addiction problems are often a community within a community within a community, hidden from view, says Shinasa Shahid (p6)....
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DDN Conference 2023 session two: Partner power
The day’s second session explored the countless benefits and opportunities of partnership working. ‘I’ve lost a lot of people who drug treatment doesn’t work for,’ harm reduction content creator at...
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Synthetic opioids and reducing risk
In this blog post, Turning Point’s Safer Lives Lead, Deb, sheds light on the emergence of a concerning new class of opioids known as “nitazenes” and the risks they present. We recently shared a joint...
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Harm reduction flyers on nitazenes
Release, alongside EuroNPUD and other drug treatment service colleagues in the UK, have produced harm reduction advice on nitazenes. There has been an increase of nitazenes detected across the UK drug...
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Simple Solutions
Naloxone is safe and easy to use. So let’s get lots more people trained up and carrying it, says Deb Hussey. Part of my role as Turning Point’s safer lives lead is expanding naloxone provision, and as...
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Igniting the debate
DDN visited the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw to hear about the challenges of mainstreaming tobacco harm reduction. Earlier this year we looked at tobacco harm reduction and observed that smoking...
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‘Not in the public interest’ to prosecute users of consumption rooms, says...
Scotland’s lord advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, has said she would be prepared to publish a prosecution policy stating that ‘it would not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple...
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Glasgow consumption room gets go-ahead
The UK’s first official consumption room has been approved by Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board. The facility will be based in a clinic on Hunter Street in the city’s east end. A staff member at an...
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DDN October 2023
The more we understand, the better we can help With Mental Health Awareness Day this month, we’re looking at some key areas of support. Our cover story explores moral injury (p6) – an area we haven’t...
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A proud tradition
Founded in 1968 by my father Rev Eric Blakebrough, Kaleidoscope’s name comes from the idea of making beautiful patterns from a diversity of people. Kaleidoscope grew from the acorn of a nightclub in...
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DDN November 2023
‘A unified message cuts through the noise’ The campaign to inform people about potentially deadly nitazenes is an essential one (p6). But as well as vital information, we also want to share the efforts...
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Stayin’ alive
A new family of synthetic opioids, known as nitazenes, have adulterated a number of illicit drugs in the UK. It’s not clear exactly when this began, but evidence of them being present in cocaine and...
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Consumption rooms among ‘key interventions’ to prevent infections, says EMCDDA
Drug consumption rooms feature in the new guidance Drug consumption rooms are among the six key interventions to prevent and control infections among people who inject drugs, according to new public...
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Hear My Truth!
‘Women and non-binary people are often excluded from services,’ said Aura Roig Forteza. ‘When they go to other services, such as mental health, they’re not allowed in because they’re using drugs.’ She...
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DDN December/January 2023
‘It’s our job to override debilitating stigma’ The number of women dying a drug-related death has risen by almost 80 per cent in a decade – yet the number of women seeking treatment has remained about...
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Crisis talks
For people who inject drugs, needle and syringe programmes (NSP) are a life-changing – and even life-saving – intervention. Being able to access clean injecting equipment, advice, and harm reduction...
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Review of the year – 2023
While the money promised in the wake of the drug strategy continued to flow into the treatment system, there were disturbing shifts in the country’s constantly changing drug supply – with more highly...
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Highest ever drug death total for England and Wales
There were 4,907 deaths related to drug poisoning recorded in England and Wales last year, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure is 1 per cent up on...
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Overdose prevention centres could save ‘thousands’ of lives, says major...
A German overdose prevention centre – one of more than 200 worldwide Overdose prevention centres have the potential to ‘prevent thousands of deaths’ and reduce the spread of disease, with no increase...
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Release to open Harm Reduction Hub in London
Release is opening a Harm Reduction Hub in London – here the charity explains how you can help. Why we need a Harm Reduction Hub in London The spread of synthetic opioids and their contamination of...
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The easiest win
‘There’s so much to be gained by getting tobacco harm reduction to the highest-risk groups,’ says David MacKintosh, director at Knowledge·Action·Change, which runs the Global State of Tobacco Harm...
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DDN March 2024
‘We’re at a pivotal point… there’s a lot to do.’The vice chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners says that addiction involves many complex problems and ‘the solutions won’t come from...
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Care for another?
Earlier this year the University of Bedfordshire and Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a report on alcohol policy and practice in care homes. Funded by the NIHR School for Social Care Research...
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DDN April 2024
‘The more we understand, the more we can support’ The challenges faced by the criminal justice system are significant, headlined by a burgeoning prison population with seemingly no place to go. But...
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Oregon recriminalises drug possession
The US state of Oregon has passed a law recriminalising drug possession. Oregon’s drug policy attracted national and international attention Oregon’s landmark Measure 110, which was passed in November...
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Changing with the times
For this month’s column, we decided it would be best to reflect on what we learned in 2023, and spell out Release’s plans to try and do things differently in 2024 – we’ll be back with another case...
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