Chief Exec's Blog - Response to the Government's 2021 Drug Strategy

Beyond the damaging rhetoric that accompanied the launch the considerable investment in treatment and the acceptance of the Dame Carol Black recommendations in totality are very welcome.

The scope and scale of ambition for transformation is admirable. We have started to see the beginnings of that process especially in response to our own making rehab work report and we will be ensuring that progress continues so that there is fair access to detox and residential treatment

The largest ever investment in improving treatment is extremely welcome. This strategy will not reverse the harms of those cuts on the lives of families across the country over the last decade. Nor will it repair the stresses on the working lives of frontline staff across the treatment sector who are the unsung heroes. We have faced difficult decisions about where and how we work so that we can deliver high quality support, nevertheless we have also faced the growing tide of need with ever tighter resources at hand.

But looking to the future we should be hopeful that we can now improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in need of support and support our workforce to grow, develop their skills and maintain their incredible dedication. We believe the strategy offers the promise we have been campaigning for over the last decade.

Strategies are only as strong as their implementation and the culture in which they exist. We have a culture which stigmatises people affected by dependency and addiction leading to daily prejudice and discrimination that limits life opportunities. This strategy references stigma briefly only twice, we know that for the record levels of investment to achieve the desired treatment outcomes we need to address the outdated views of addiction as a moral failing and a purely criminal issue. On this point the tone of the strategy is a missed opportunity. Addiction is a complex mental health condition that can affect anyone. You are more likely to experience the most severe harms if you experience poverty, poor health and homelessness. We are hopeful of a brighter future because of what this strategy says about funding and coordinated working. We rededicate ourselves to fighting stigma because of the missed opportunity to address the culture of prejudice faced by people in need of compassion.

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By Karen Biggs

Chief Exec's Blog - Response to the Government's 2021 Drug Strategy

Beyond the damaging rhetoric that accompanied the launch the considerable investment in treatment and the acceptance of the Dame Carol Black recommendations in totality are very welcome.

Phoenix News & Views

Stop weaponising stigma

16th May 2025

Accelerate away from the safe ground

7th March 2025

Saving the last residential rehab for families in England

26th November 2024