North Tyneside council is preparing to meet new government measures to combat drug use throughout the borough.
By August 1 2022 the local authority should appoint a senior responsible owner who will head a partnership to close ‘county lines’ and increase the number of people in drug treatment. ‘County lines’ is the practice of transporting drugs from cities to more rural communities, often by using vulnerable people including children
This forms part of central government’s “From Harm to Hope” 10 year strategy and is a response to the Independent Reviews of Drugs led by Dame Carol Black from 2021. The report also requires local authorities to reduce the demand for drugs.
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The partnership will be made up of an elected local authority leader, the police and crime commissioner, council chief executives, regional probation director, and the integrated care board chief executive.
Other core partners should include an NHS strategic lead, substance misuse treatment providers, and people who have been affected by drug-related harm.
The North East has had the highest rates of drug misuse death in England with 104.6 deaths per million. In comparison London has the lowest with 33.1 deaths per million.
New trends in drug use, for example the use of gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines with heroin has been connected to increasing deaths from drug misuse. This is combined with an older more fragile cohort of drug users and disengagement or non-compliance with opiate substitute regimes.
The chair of North Tyneside council’s health and well-being board, councillor Karen Clark, expressed some concern over the time frame. She told the board: “It is just always the case that it's so tight. Redicoulous. There are a whole range of questions there but very little time to give them full consideration.”
The board was informed the authority’s directors of public health have already written to the Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness to begin conversations about the partnership and how the PPC will help implement the new measures.
Governance of the partnership needs to be agreed to by the end of September 2022. An assessment of local needs and requirements needs to be collated by the end of November 2022.
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