North East Lincolnshire
Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT)
Our Priorities
In late 2010 the Government produced a new Drug Strategy - ‘Reducing demand, restricting supply, building recovery: supporting people to live a drug free life’. At the same time numerous legislative changes being introduced over the coming year will fundamentally alter the structural arrangements for harnessing the necessary partnership commitment required to tackle drug and alcohol misuse. The key challenge for the DAAT in the year ahead will be to adapt to these changes (that will see amongst other things the abolition of the National Treatment Agency and Primary Care Trusts) whilst maintaining the efficacy of our existing services as they move towards a more ‘recovery’ focussed model that the new Strategy describes.
Much of the new Strategy is not new. It still acknowledges that a multi agency and multi faceted approach, spanning crime, disorder and health and combining education, enforcement and treatment is necessary. Furthermore other legislation and policy currently emanating from Government coalesces around a recognition that problems connected to drugs and alcohol misuse are inextricably linked to the cycle of deprivation that sees crime and re-offending, low ambition, poor attainment in education, unemployment and health inequalities all linked by cause and effect. The desire to break that cycle by joined up thinking and partnership working is strong.
But the over riding message is that drug treatment must have a greater ambition – to deliver full recovery, with more people leaving services drug free and re-integrated into the mainstream community.
The Strategy also allows greater flexibility with Government funds, for the first time encouraging drug and alcohol treatment systems to be developed that are mutually supportive.
And finally the Strategy encourages a three year as opposed to a one year planning cycle which makes much more sense.
Consequently it is our three year Adult Drug and Alcohol Treatment Plan which highlights all the key priorities for 2011/12 and the following two years that is attached to this website and which we would invite you read.
