Where were we?

Where were we? • Committed to Family Values • Conform to Religious practices • Community Harmony • Consistency in lifestyle • Cultured with baggage

Drug Use and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities “Black people don’t use drugs” “The few that do will never inject” “It is a white western disease” “Religion prohibits drug taking - therefore it is not a problem” “If there are any Asian drug users they don’t use these services - anyway they look after themselves” “Our strong religious and cultural values stop us from this behaviour” DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL

Drug Use Nationally WHAT ARE THE FACTS? DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL

National Picture Costs of drug abuse in Britain? • Total UK drugs economy is worth around 0.3% of GDP or £2 billion a year • In addition at least £3 billion is spent dealing with the social and health costs • There are more than £6 billion of other costs to society

Costs of drug abuse in Britain • This makes a total of more than £10 million, or around 1.5% of British GDP • A significant drain on the nation! • If smoking is included, the total could be more than £30 billion a year, or 4% GDP

Costs of drug abuse in Britain Illegal drugs and crime • A Department of Health survey of 1,100 addicts found that they had committed more than 70,000 separate crimes in three months before entering treatment. 20% of all criminals use heroin and heroin users are stealing £1.3 billion a year in property to pay for their habit. • The 20% using heroin are responsible for 80% of all property crime, more than 800,000 burglaries, more than 1.7 million other reported thefts, not including stolen vehicles. • In Lancashire for example that amounts to a loss of £147 in every household every year.

Costs of drug abuse in Britain Cost to the legal system • to deal with drug-related crime is £14 billion a year, including £7 billion on policing, remand and borstals, £1 billion on legal aid and £0.3 billion on probation costs, £1.5 billion on prisons - around 6% of all government spending • 15% of men in prison are there for drugs offences –trading, buying, selling or stealing • One in three women prisoners are inside for drugs offences, drug-related theft, burglary or prostitution • 12% of male and 24% of female prisoners are addicted to drugs or alcohol when taken into custody • 10% of prisoners say they were injecting Heroin before going to prison

Costs of drug abuse in Britain Illegal drugs and health • Emergency admissions to hospital wards are common Every year thousands are admitted for drug psychosis, Drug dependence and Non-dependent use of drugs • Other health issues HIV / AIDS, other sex diseases and hepatitis • The bill for care and prevention of HIV/AIDS is in excess of £210 million • Those with AIDS through the use of drugs constitute around 6% of the total. • Other sex diseases are also more likely to spread among drug users who may be too intoxicated to care about risks

Costs of drug abuse in Britain • Hepatitis C has spread rapidly through needle sharing - indeed it is the commonest route of transmission • 60% of drug injectors attending UK drug services are now carrying Hepatitis C • Up to 400,000 people in the UK may have been infected through sharing injecting equipment • 85% of those infected develop chronic infection, usually chronic hepatitis • Consider the health costs of stressed partners and other family members • Each drug user that dies at a young age is a loss economically to society • Actuary tables for loss of earnings for someone dying aged 35 are around £400,000

Costs of drug abuse in Britain Social Costs • Rehabilitation and child protection issues. Under community care regulations, social services are responsible for funding residential rehab placements • The average cost per person using residential rehabilitation is £390 per week compared to £225 for structured day care • Also include a proportion of the cost to the voluntary sector, advice centres, child therapy, family support agencies and the rest • Damage to education - at school causes loss of concentration, delinquency and encourages truancy – resulting in suspensions, expulsions and other disciplinary measures

Costs of alcohol abuse in Britain Alcohol • Alcohol kills 31,000 a year - 28,000 deaths a year are alcohol-related (and a further 3,000 are deaths where alcohol is listed as a cause on a death certificate). • The 28,000 include suicides, accidents, cancers and strokes. Alcohol-related accidents at home - for example falling downstairs, and head injuries are the most frequent result. • While deaths from alcoholic liver damage are usually in older people, deaths which are alcohol-related are spread across the age groups more evenly. If we say that the average alcohol-linked death results in a loss of five working years, then the cost to society in Actuarial terms each year based on lost earnings could be more than £2.5 billion

Costs of alcohol abuse in Britain • Alcohol-related health costs are estimated by Alcohol Concern to be around £150 million a year or 4.3% of total health spending • 25% of male hospital admissions are alcohol-related • Deaths from liver disease are ten times normal rate among heavy drinkers and 3% of all cancers may be linked to alcohol • Alcohol abuse is a common cause of high blood pressure, strokes and obesity • Alcohol is a factor in around 15% of all road deaths, 26% of drownings and 39% of deaths in fires • 4,500 people are admitted because of mental health problems every year because of alcohol • 65% of suicide attempts are linked with excessive drinking

Costs of alcohol abuse in Britain Alcohol and crime • Alcohol-defined crimes include drink-driving, public drunkenness and disinhibition • Crashes still kill eleven people a week • Drink kills pedestrians and cyclists too. 15% of all those injured in road traffic accidents have been drinking in the four hours previously • The annual cost of drink-related traffic crime has been estimated to be £50 million • Alcohol use is associated with murders, violent crime, domestic violence, burglaries, sex offences and so on • Just one example of large-scale alcohol-related injury is facial cuts

Costs of smoking in Britain • Smoking is estimated to kill around 120,000 people a year in Britain, shortening life on average by at least ten years • That's 1.2 million years of life lost • Government Actuarial calculations would be that for every year of life lost, the economy shrinks by the wage of the person who is not now earning • The average annual salary is around £17,500. If just twenty smokers have to stop work five years before retirement because of smoking-related ill health or early death, the loss is around £1.7 million. The numbers soon start to climb

Costs of smoking in Britain • Most smoking related ill health and most of the 120,000 smoking deaths a year are among those retired But if we take a figure of 20,000 people, who are unable to work for an average of five years each (mainly because of deaths before retirement), then the economic cost would be almost £2 billion a year. • The cost of caring for those with tobacco-related illness is around £1.6 billion - a significant proportion of the £35 billion a year spent on health

Costs of smoking in Britain • Many smokers argue that tax revenues on cigarettes more than compensate for the extra workload…. • The fact is clear - smoking robs people of health and life, and both of these are devastatingly high costs to the individuals, to their families and friends, as well as to society

Local Picture- Ealing There were 1,203 substance misusers known to the health trust within Ealing during 2003/04 • It’s reasonable to expect the figure for 2004/05 to be higher • When comparing drugs to alcohol the levels are quite similar with drugs accounting for 51% (622 clients) with alcohol relating to 48% (481 clients) of the total substance misuse total • On an individual substance basis, Alcohol has a high level of usage followed closely by Heroin • Drugs – 51% Alcohol – 48% Blanks - 9%

Local Picture- Ealing

Local Picture- Ealing Drug and Alcohol Action Programme has found Increasing drug use within all communities • increasing use of Heroin, Cocaine & Crack Cocaine as first drug of choice amongst young men from Asian and African-Caribbean communities • Increasing use of alcohol among young Muslim men • Increasing experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs • Use of Private treatment • Problematic use of Class A drugs among young Asian girls – links to prostitution • Khat use amongst Somali communities linked to use of Class A drugs

Drug Use and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Our communities take drugs Our communities supply and deal in drugs Our communities are involved with crime Our communities need education Our communities need services Our communities are suffering in silence as it is always someone else’s problem DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL DENIAL

Making a Difference • Service provision needs to appropriate • We need quality local and national needs assessments • We need robust monitoring systems especially ethnic monitoring • We need Parents and carers to be catered for • We need consistent and meaningful funding for Black and minority ethnic organisations • We need strategic planning • We need community involvement

Where does this lead to?

Community Response sharing and caring • Community must share responsibility • Ownership must be shared by the ‘people’ • Public private shared partnerships • Sharing of information and expertise

So where are we now?

Drug and Alcohol Action Programme • DAAP has developed as a national programme building on the work initiated and developed by the Southall Community Drugs Education Project. It existsto eradicate alcohol and drug addiction primarily but not exclusively in the Black and minority ethnic communities by working in partnership with the voluntary, statutory, independent and corporate sector.

Drug and Alcohol Action Programme • Provision of appropriate education • Provision of culturally appropriate Programmes and treatment services • Conducting research on addictive behaviour

Drug and Alcohol Action Programme The Programme in Southall and Ealing is funded by the Big Lottery as part of the Southall Healthy Living Centres initiative and by Ealing’s Primary Care Trust Also individuals and businesses

Community Response sharing and caring • You can make a difference • We can all make a difference • The project has supported numerous people so far • Let’s look at who these people are?

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! ……off Southall Age 42, male, married 4 Children has been drinking for approx. 26/27 years with 7 years of heavy drinking which was Spirits (neat) and Beers (Strong) Drinking would commence as soon as …would get up in the morning or evening, he did not know what time/ day/ month or year it was, all he knew was, he had to get a Drink. He did not work. It was only when he collapsed and had fits did the family seek help through their GP – second GP as the first did not really help • can make a difference • We can all make a difference • The project has supported numerous people so far • Let’s look at who these people are?

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! Mr………..Married 2 Children, a successful business man in Southall, drinking was forbusiness- lunches and entertainment (entertaining clients), his drinking had also spiralled out off control. His business slowly deteriorated as he was unable to get to meetings and see clients. He was admitted to hospital on several occassions but it was only when a very close friend identified the consistent problems, that he went to a local rehab where he stayed 5 months…………………….. was not so fortunate as his drinking still continued after treatment. He did not stay 6 months in the rehab - if he had he may still be with us today …… died a short time after all this ,

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! What did these two men have in common? An addiction! One was a Muslim and the other a Sikh Both from religions that prohibit alcohol and yet….. It did happen to them

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! A single parent mother in her late 40s who has no family in this country except her only son who is 27years old. Her son had been caught and charged twice with drugs with the intention to supply and was waiting for his hearing. Mrs X had very little knowledge of drugs. She told DAAP that she had a religious ceremony performed in India and this country which had cost her a lot of money and the priest had said that nothing will happen to her son.

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! Her son had been constantly beating her up to get money from her for drugs and sometime his girlfriend joined in. Mrs X’s son has been sent to Prison which has devastated her because she was convinced by the priest that things would be alright. Mrs X attends DAAP’s women’s group and is slowly on the road to recovery. She takes three buses to get to her counselling and to DAAP!

IT COULD NOT HAPPEN TO US! DAAP deals with many people amongst whom are women suffering domestic violence because of addiction, people homeless because of their addiction – sleeping in the phone booths, young men and women addicted to Crack and Heroin If one word can sum up the situation – it is Crisis They approach DAAP when they are in a crisis

It Couldn’t Happen to us! Addiction knows no caste, creed or colour! It can affect you And It can affect me Ourselves, our families, our communities, our society

So How can we make a difference?

MAKING A DIFFERENCE • You can become a supporter of DAAP • Break the silence • Let people know we exist and can help • Volunteer your help – become a community educator • Become part of the Steering group that will monitor, guide and support the project

MAKING A DIFFERENCE • Help DAAP to start delivering services • Make a donation or a gift aid • Sponsor a project • Empower the community to become cohesive and united against addiction

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

MAKING A DIFFERENCE • Mobile bus £30,000 could buy, convert and run the bus for 2 years!!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE When you create a change in yourself, you create change in your family, When you create a change in your family, you create a change in your community, when you create a change in your community, you create change in Society….

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Let us all be part of the process that creates change in society

Where were we?

Where were we?

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