http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/index.htmlDrug Policy Blogenuser@domain.comCopyright 2011 Sara McGrail2011-03-20T18:59:31+00:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:05:40 +0000user@domain.comNone2011-03-20T16:28:17+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8fe8279afd1f34069c168ebd8db29612-38.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8fe8279afd1f34069c168ebd8db29612-38.html#unique-entry-id-38user@domain.comNone2011-02-15T00:12:01+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c5ba89597d05af4a79cf34f0f328b8d7-31.html#unique-entry-id-31http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c5ba89597d05af4a79cf34f0f328b8d7-31.html#unique-entry-id-31A new-look website and a new blog beginning. Thanks to all for your patience. I have a new comments server - but sadly this has meant all old comments have been lost (it was either that or pay an extra $10 a month).

Back soon with sharpened keyboard and a detached eye (nothing to do with the sharp keyboard I assure you)]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2010-01-14T18:50:49+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/1472e9c8889de48e151e33f18475e7fd-30.html#unique-entry-id-30http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/1472e9c8889de48e151e33f18475e7fd-30.html#unique-entry-id-30emergency support for homeless people. Day centres were to be opened at night if required and special support was being urged for those sleeping rough in this most inhospitable of winters.

Of course we know that across the UK many of those who sleep rough are affected by substance misuse problems and for significant numbers of homeless people, heroin use and rough sleeping are inextricably entwined. But for Scotland's drug users over the past few weeks, there has been a far more frightening threat than the cold weather. There's been anthrax.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2009-11-14T18:50:14+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8cd5e38e2e2f40e659a88e5ba292d874-29.html#unique-entry-id-29http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8cd5e38e2e2f40e659a88e5ba292d874-29.html#unique-entry-id-29Over the past year I've been working with the London Drug Policy Forum on a project supported by the Home Office that looks at the current and future roles of local partnerships - and how the resources they currently receive or are able to generate locally are used to deliver the outcomes of the 2008 National Drugs Strategy. 

]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2009-04-05T18:48:41+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/6a7791100be269901dca3bdbabf3f44d-28.html#unique-entry-id-28http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/6a7791100be269901dca3bdbabf3f44d-28.html#unique-entry-id-28Both Sides of the Coin is a project I'm working on with the LDPF with support from ADFAM and KCA. We want to explore the relationship between financial exclusion, poverty and substance use and find ways of tackling it. Our focus is not just on developing responses within the drugs field but also to support and encourage mainstream agencies to work more effectively with drugs users, their families and communities.
]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2009-02-01T18:46:24+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/bdf3579474e1f8fc3b83adb197b5892a-27.html#unique-entry-id-27http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/bdf3579474e1f8fc3b83adb197b5892a-27.html#unique-entry-id-27Its hard to see exactly who the Welfare Reform Bill's sections on drugs are meant to benefit. Certainly not drug users - for while there is potential for it to improve the lot of some, the design, implementation and administration of the initiative looks likely to be mechanistic and dehumanising. Not the wider community as the likelihood is that the main thrust of the proposals - that is benefit sanctions - can only lead to greater hardship, problematic drug use and crime for the most vulnerable communities. Nor can it, in anything but the short term thrill of seeing themselves looking "tuff" in the Daily Mail, benefit the government, as the paucity of talent and insight evident in the documentation before parliament in relation to this only demonstrates how far from intellectual rigour - or even common sense - those involved in policy making centrally have come.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-11-10T18:40:54+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/aa0654d56b16c638c270e4791538c1de-25.html#unique-entry-id-25http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/aa0654d56b16c638c270e4791538c1de-25.html#unique-entry-id-25Anyone studying the recent debate on drugs and drug treatment in the media could be forgiven for thinking we've all gone mad. Drug use, we are told, is an illness that can be cured as long as we are willing to pay for the right treatment. The right treatment is residential rehabilitation and the way we need to pay for it is to take all the investment we have in methadone maintenance services and needle exchange and spend it on residential services.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-10-20T18:35:35+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8f761bb273383bd7a6be007388251b9c-24.html#unique-entry-id-24http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8f761bb273383bd7a6be007388251b9c-24.html#unique-entry-id-24The new NTA consultation on Value Improvement for drug treatment systems was published last week. It is a remarkable and extraordinary document. I suggest you start at the end - because that's the only place you get to consider the purpose of this most peculiar tool.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-10-05T18:33:26+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c09984da37b2b4d55f7752bf57ee47cf-23.html#unique-entry-id-23http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c09984da37b2b4d55f7752bf57ee47cf-23.html#unique-entry-id-23user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-09-19T18:31:46+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/6437ca9e7d7018673740a426517f5ec4-22.html#unique-entry-id-22http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/6437ca9e7d7018673740a426517f5ec4-22.html#unique-entry-id-22user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-08-25T18:30:00+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/13f6c6f628aa90e6af4c091d277fb3e0-21.html#unique-entry-id-21http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/13f6c6f628aa90e6af4c091d277fb3e0-21.html#unique-entry-id-21user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-08-14T18:21:27+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8f161ffcea2d3b88bdcd57baf14c533c-20.html#unique-entry-id-20http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/8f161ffcea2d3b88bdcd57baf14c533c-20.html#unique-entry-id-20dictated by tabloid irrationality", why haven't people in positions of influence done anything about it? And what should drive policy anyway? If we believe "The Thick of It" its a mixture of political expedience, quick thinking and a lack of any discernible conviction whatsoever. If we believe Yes Minister, its a matter of what remains after the civil service and the politicians have outsmarted each other.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-08-03T18:06:56+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3a04144b6aed43ddccd9c3bb211fb001-17.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3a04144b6aed43ddccd9c3bb211fb001-17.html#unique-entry-id-17Despite the fact that we have a new drug strategy with a renewed focus on joined up local working, we don't really have a structure either locally or nationally that's fit to deliver it. If the ambitions of the new drug strategy - particularly those around employment, housing and reintegration are to be met, we need to learn from our own history and look at how we can strengthen and re-establish our approach to partnerships such that they're up to delivery. Any new structures or frameworks will need to avoid the pitfalls of the past - and put the people directly affected by substance use in the driving seat.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-06-14T18:05:37+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/357b4b0884d5a8bf752bff0945b5eb0d-16.html#unique-entry-id-16http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/357b4b0884d5a8bf752bff0945b5eb0d-16.html#unique-entry-id-16For me, defining Recovery as a process to be controlled by the individual, but then imposing a whole set of values and outcomes upon what "characterises" that recovery is to miss the point. You have to let me judge what my Recovery is. It is not up to you to normalise me. These are my choices, my hopes and my decisions. You make them yours, then you do exactly what those early mental health activists feared. You create "a cosmetic initiative that maintains the dependence of individuals on the system". ]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-05-12T18:00:56+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/310630bb1ae6c7cd93b83f8ecf9afbfe-15.html#unique-entry-id-15http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/310630bb1ae6c7cd93b83f8ecf9afbfe-15.html#unique-entry-id-15user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-05-07T17:58:24+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3fdb17708c34124bd5087504a656b58c-14.html#unique-entry-id-14http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3fdb17708c34124bd5087504a656b58c-14.html#unique-entry-id-14The lunacy that has been demonstrated this morning with regard to the classification of cannabis has clearly come about as a result of a real change in what we now view as the purpose of drug strategy in the UK. Whereas once - back at the time of the 1995, 1998 and even 2002 drug strategies - the aim of strategy was clearly to pragmatically tackle the harms related to drug use, it is now the clear intention of this government, led in this respect by Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown, to turn the clock back to a time when all you had to do was say "No Sir-ee", make sure you locked the bad guys up and everything would be fine and dandy.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-04-28T17:56:06+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/17937321220a57f188a7aef2280eae87-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/17937321220a57f188a7aef2280eae87-13.html#unique-entry-id-13The Department of Health Reducing Drug Related Harm Action Plan is coming up to its first birthday in a couple of weeks. How much have we achieved since its publication and what can that tell us about the state of harm reduction in the UK?
]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-04-18T17:53:25+01:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/acc2e28902fc9a43ea24b6abda5e0b59-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/acc2e28902fc9a43ea24b6abda5e0b59-12.html#unique-entry-id-12"Of course the general public do not currently on the whole understand that maintenance is a positive intervention and of course they think the ideal is getting people off drugs and away from addiction altogether. That’s because largely we don’t ever bother explaining it."

I've just taken part in the Drugscope and Conference Consortium Great Debate looking at the issues around the resurgence of the abstinence vs maintenance arguments.
You can download Mike Ashton's article, 'The new abstentionists', here.

A number of people have asked for a copy of my speech, so I’m blogging it for them and anyone else who's interested.

]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-02-29T17:51:28+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/05c2644a1f47b1df2200f498da86fb73-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/05c2644a1f47b1df2200f498da86fb73-11.html#unique-entry-id-11A quick look at the substance - or otherwise - of the new drug strategy]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-02-26T17:43:39+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/f5a1a65fbcea56f471dca8a0d34dfdf3-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/f5a1a65fbcea56f471dca8a0d34dfdf3-10.html#unique-entry-id-10The new drug strategy comes out on Wednesday - but how different will it be to the old one - and what will the reaction be across the field? In truth, it may be less important what the strategy says than how we react to it. The time has come for a new approach - one that is not just about getting more and more money, but about prudence, co-operation and critique.]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-02-02T17:41:12+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/1aff947cdbe36e1c1c4e09336a6e7dda-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/1aff947cdbe36e1c1c4e09336a6e7dda-9.html#unique-entry-id-9user@domain.comPolicy Blog2008-01-12T17:39:09+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3969cdcffaa3a4e4afe5b2f85860ab61-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/3969cdcffaa3a4e4afe5b2f85860ab61-8.html#unique-entry-id-8
]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-12-31T15:28:54+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/ec8f7c75244dbec5ca8726f11187fe7e-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/ec8f7c75244dbec5ca8726f11187fe7e-7.html#unique-entry-id-7A review of the high - and low - lights of the past year. Including the Pooled Treatment Budget increase that wasn't, capital investment in tier 4, the Harm Reduction Action Plan and the Drug Strategy Consultation plus much much more ribald and unbuttoned fun from the wacky world of drug policy.

(Thanks to The Daily Dose and Drink and Drugs News for their impeccably kept online archives - without them I would have had to make it all up ... then again, you couldn't really could you?)

]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-12-12T15:27:36+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/aaf3972867b249eb907b75319ec8e72e-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/aaf3972867b249eb907b75319ec8e72e-6.html#unique-entry-id-6user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-12-11T15:26:06+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/2ca68053f80b2d69a68e4108fe279497-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/2ca68053f80b2d69a68e4108fe279497-5.html#unique-entry-id-5
Some pretty creative work around drug - and particularly - alcohol use has been funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) up and down the country over the past few years. Projects looking at regeneration, workskills - and in some of the most creative partnerships - essentially the elements of treatment we know should be in place but which simply weren't fundable through the pooled treatment budget - like workplace mentoring and advocacy schemes.

But in 2008, NRF ends. I know a lot of projects I've been talking to are worried that their funding won't be replaced by mainstream monies or by drug specific spend. There's a feeling too that no one is really putting pressure on local partnerships engaged in regeneration to think about drugs after NRF.

]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-12-08T15:25:07+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/44102196de7ffd5ebd7ad0fd20141d51-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/44102196de7ffd5ebd7ad0fd20141d51-4.html#unique-entry-id-4finally been published ]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-11-28T15:23:14+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c580f4e9c46e05002e3c16ad65ba7e5f-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c580f4e9c46e05002e3c16ad65ba7e5f-3.html#unique-entry-id-3user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-11-22T15:16:54+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/9c45ec226b78190347da2590418e66db-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/9c45ec226b78190347da2590418e66db-2.html#unique-entry-id-2More on those pesky Local Government Indicators for those of you for whom the anorak is just a second skin...

To remind you, these are the indicators that will sit at the heart of the LAA, the CAA and the SCS (That's the Local Area Agreement, The Sustainable Communities Strategy and the Comprehensive Area Assessment - the divine troika of local partnership planning, measurement and delivery). ]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-11-16T15:15:00+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/b62e3c726c4a750aacae444a3d1a1532-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/b62e3c726c4a750aacae444a3d1a1532-1.html#unique-entry-id-1There's a conference being advertised at the moment looking at Complex Needs in Drugs and Alcohol. Complex needs, the organisers tell us, are the needs of a someone in treatment to have access to employment, housing, or healthcare and they'll be a key focus for drug and alcohol providers in the next drug strategy.

This is not a definition of complex needs that I've ever heard before. Most usually "Complex Needs" refers to people with multiple disabilities or a profound depth of need relating to a primary condition. While I am willing to accept that someone who uses drugs may have more difficulty in accessing housing or employment or primary healthcare than someone who doesn't use drugs I don't think that this means that their need for housing or employment or primary healthcare is complex. Surely housing and employment and healthcare are basic needs that mainstream services should be capable of satisfying?]]>user@domain.comPolicy Blog2007-11-12T15:06:59+00:00http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c93ae3240b0826911ef7cb1dcdebda2e-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.saramcgrail.co.uk/files/c93ae3240b0826911ef7cb1dcdebda2e-0.html#unique-entry-id-0Its one of those anorak moments - the Department for Communities and Local Government has today opened a consultation on the indicators for the new performance management framework for Local Government.]]>