Statement: Response to the independent review of drugs
On 8th July, Dame Carol Black published part two of her independent review of drugs.
Alice Wiseman, Alcohol and Drugs Lead, Association of Directors of Public Health, said:
Dame Carol Black’s Review of Drugs provides a significant opportunity to reduce drug use and the multiple harms it causes to individuals and communities, especially in the most deprived areas.
Directors of Public Health are committed to taking a whole system approach to substance misuse and delivering collaborative commissioning locally, however this has been hindered by significant cuts to the public health grant in recent years. Progress can only be made through partnership working, across public health, education, the criminal justice, the NHS, social care and the third sector, at both a local and national level. We look forward to developing a shared outcomes-focussed agenda building on these principles with the Office for Health Promotion and the new Drugs Unit.
As the report argues, we face an unavoidable choice: invest more in treatment, prevention and recovery or keep paying the health, social and economic consequences of not doing so.