Volteface Submission to the Health and Social Care Committee

Today from 4pm, the Health and Social Care Committee will hear the first round of evidence into their inquiry regarding current drugs policy.

Click the LINK to read our submission to the inquiry.

Scope of the inquiry

Terms of Reference

The Committee is seeking written submissions on the health consequences of illicit drugs policy including on:

Health and harms:

• What is the extent of health harms resulting from drug use?

Prevention and early intervention:

• What are the reasons for both the initial and the continued, sustained use of drugs? This refers to the wide spectrum of use, from high-risk use to the normalisation of recreational use.
• How effective and evidence-based are strategies for prevention and early intervention in managing and countering the drivers of use? This includes whether a whole-system approach is taken.

Treatment and harm reduction:

• How effective and evidence-based is treatment provision? This refers to both healthcare services and wider agencies, and the extent to which joined-up care pathways operate.
• Is policy is sufficiently geared towards treatment? This includes the extent to which health is prioritised, in the context of the Government’s criminal justice-led approach.

Best practice:

• What would a high-quality, evidence-based response to drugs look like?
• What responses to drugs internationally stand out as particularly innovative and / or relevant, and what evidence is there of impact in these cases?