3rd April: Edinburgh
10th April - Manchester - 13:30 to 16:30
16th April - London - 14:00 to 17:00

Following the recent controversy and debate on the abstinence record of English drug treatment services, the Consortium together with DrugScope are organising a series of half day seminars entitled: ‘Drug Treatment, the Great Debate’ for people working in the field to debate the issues raised.   The seminars are held in different parts of the UK including:
Manchester at: Crystal Suite, The Britannia Hotel, 35 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3LA, on Thursday, 10th April 2008
London at: Lecture Theatre 421, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX, on Wednesday 16th April 2008.

Drug Treatment: the great debate

Three seminars organised by DrugScope and the Conference Consortium in April 2008

The debate on drug treatment has recently been given fresh impetus when last October the BBC challenged the government over the abstinence record of English treatment services and at the same time in Scotland results from a national study created a similar controversy.
Internationally the UK has been distinguished by a pragmatic policy which embraces reduction of harm among users of illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine as well as treatments to help people overcome their dependence. Unlike countries such as the USA and Sweden, total abstinence has not been an overriding objective and preventing crime and diseases like HIV spread by shared injecting equipment have been high on the agenda.
Treatments such as methadone maintenance seek to replace the roller-coaster ride of multiple daily heroin injections with the stability of a long-acting substitute drug, enabling patients to stop committing crimes to raise money for drugs and get on with their lives. For the critics this is a second best solution which leaves patients still taking opiate-type drugs even if these are legal medications. They favour residential services which mandate abstinence among residents and try to change their lives so they can leave without having to take drugs.
The polarisation of the debate prompted Mike Ashton to embark on a review of the available evidence which might support or otherwise the various positions. His work on this was published by DrugScope, in the January issue of Druglink magazine, under the title ‘The New Abstentionists’. The paper is considered a ‘work in progress’. The published version is on the DrugScope website at:
http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/goodpractice/treatment/studies.htm
with an updated version is at:
http://www.drugscope.org.uk/Documents/PDF/Good%20Practice/Ashton_M_30.pdf

As part of the attempt to widen the debate DrugScope, in partnership with the Conference Consortium has organised a series of half-day seminars, in Edinburgh, Manchester and London, in April this year.

The events are scheduled for Edinburgh (3rd April) Manchester (10th April) and London (16th April). The first one is being hosted by the Scotland’s Futures Forum (SFF) andwill take place at the Scottish Parliament. The two events in England will take place as follows:

Manchester: 
10/04/08 – 1.30 to 4.30 pm: Crystal Suite, The Britannia Hotel, 35 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3LA, Tel:  0871 222 0017, www.britanniahotels.com

Panel of Speakers chaired by Susanne MacGregor, (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine):   Peter McDermott, Tim Leighton (Action on Addiction), Ian Wardle (Lifeline), Paolo Pertica (Blackpool Community Safety and Drugs Partnership).

London:
16/04/08 – 2 to 5pm, Lecture Theatre 421, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX

Panel of Speakers chaired by Susanne MacGregor (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine): Sara McGrail (Consultant), David Best (Birmingham University), Eliot Albert, (NUN and UKHRA), Richard Philips.

For the latter two events there will be a £15 delegate fee to cover the costs of staging each. Places at the seminars are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis, so please register early to avoid disappointment.

The Seminars

All 3 seminars will have the same format. Mike will briefly introduce the paper (10 minutes) as it is assumed all those attending will have already had the opportunity to read it and this will be followed by 4 contributions by invited speakers (max 15 minutes each) who will each address the issues raised in the paper from a different perspective. The panel will be balanced in terms of ‘ideology’ and will also have a contribution from service user perspective.

The presentations will be followed by a break with refreshments and then the panel will reconvene for a ‘Question Time’ style dialogue with the audience, the chair acting as the moderator. The chair for the 2 events in England will be Dr Susanne MacGregor, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The chair for the Edinburgh event is Dr Brian Kidd, Vice-chair of the Scottish Alcohol and Drug Action Team Association.

We anticipate that each event will last for about 3 hours, including 15/20 minutes for the refreshment break.

Each event will have two people designated as rapporteurs – 2 staff from DrugScope and the Consortium will fulfil this role, so as to ensure consistency –
and it is our intention to produce a report at the end of the 3 events, in keeping with the ‘work in progress’, promoting a continuing debate around live issues relating to drug treatment and other interventions in the UK.