Liverpool Addictions Conference 2012 – Part 1

On the 22nd March 2012 Liverpool John Moore’s University hosted Liverpool Addictions Conference. I spent the day with Tim Bingham INEF who had flown over from Ireland and the HIT girls Maddie and Lucy O Hare as well as the lovely Marie Tolman. In addition to Drugs including Alcohol the plenary and parallel sessions covered other forms of addiction such as Sex, Food, Gambling, Tobacco, the Internet & Gaming.

Maddie O Hare and Stacey Smith

Stacey Smith, Lucy O Hare and Tim Bingham

Posing for the camera. Oh dear. (Cheers Tim!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a brief overview of each session, a combination of the messages the speakers were getting across and my own musings.

Dr. Harry Sumnall introduced the day.

‘Addictions beyond substance use as behaviours driven by the same underlying factors’.

He spoke of a concept that I have often baffled my head over and that is why in society policy supports some addictive (and risky) behaviours but not others? Alcohol, Tobacco, Gambling are all risky and yet the Government legally allows them. Other (if we’re being honest and don’t read the Daily Mail) less harmful substances carry heavy penalties for their possession or supply. Well, we know the reason why. Money of course. Harry gave us some stats which were very telling. Annually the Government raise £15 BILLION on Alcohol tax, £800 MILLION is spent on Alcohol advertising. Unfortunately these figures equate to every £1 spent on education £100 being spent on Alcohol advertising. With the cuts in drug education this is even more depressing.

Professor Christian Muller talked about ‘Drug instrumentalisation’. Basically this means the non addicted use of pyschoactive substances as helpful tools for improving life and acknowledging there is a difference between addictive drug use and other use.

‘The vast majority of those who consume psychoactive drugs are not addicted’.

Really if you think about it we use drugs in this way legally all the time even if it is just Caffeine to wake us up in the morning. I’m interested in why people who use ANY psychoactive  substance at all can judge another person. We all have our feelings of choice.  Any of us can potentially take our pleasure to the point where it becomes more problematic to our lives. However, I think that we still need to get the message out there that there is a fine line (no pun intended) which can be crossed quite easily between less harmful use of drugs as ‘instruments’ and their problematic use. All use starts somewhere. We need to make people aware and as safe as possible. Another reason we need more preventative work out there.

He identified 9 behaviours that can be improved by the use of psychoactive drugs.

*Social Interaction      *Facilitated Sexual Behaviour

*Improved Cognitive Performance/Counteracting Fatigue      *Coping with Stress

*Self medication for mental problems      *Sensory Curiosity/Expanded Perception

*Euphoria, hedonia & high     *Improved physical appearance and attractiveness  *Spirituality & Religion

Of course all of these are reasons people use substances but we need to prevent the use of any substances or behaviour becoming an ‘addiction’. We need to be pragmatic and not bury our heads in the sand.

You can see more about his research here.

Risk Taking Behaviour – Dr. Jon Cole Department of Applied Psychology LJMU

Now I liked this bloke. He began by defining risk taking as …

‘behaviour with an adverse consequence’.

He highlighted the irony of the acceptability of some risk taking behaviours as opposed to others (climbing Everest for example, life threatening situation yet people sponsor others to do it!).

Young people take risks to assert their independence, establish their own identity, gain peer approval, assuage peer pressure and immediate gratification.

As a society we want this, young people and old. We want to feel good as quickly as possible and get what we want as quickly as possible.

The concept of optimism bias explains a lot. He used the common example of smokers. They know that smoking can kill  but will justify it by using a story of a 90 year old who smoked all their lives. While in most of my work optimism and positivity is important people need to get real too. Justifying the continuation of a risky behaviour using this optimism bias can only be a negative thing in the end. Literally the end in some cases.

The point he makes is that the immediate gratification, the good feeling we get from a substance or activity will far outweigh any thoughts of the adverse consequences. The ‘it won’t happen to me’  school of thought.  This has implications for drug education too. Jon suggests that young people’s time perception will also mean that telling them about things that can happen to them in their distant future is basically futile. A combination of their skewed time perception and optimism bias will mean information and advice given really needs to be honed to be more effective. (Again this brings me back to thinking about the drug education cuts. Go the ConDems!…No, really, just go!)

Drug Policy – Professor Alex Stevens

After following him for a good while on Twitter this was the first time I had met Alex Stevens. His session was on Drug Policy and he compared the U.S model and the EU model.

U.S. Model – more abstinence based, poorer access to healthcare and benefits.

Consequences of this have been: Drug related deaths have increased, HIV rates have increased, prison population has increased. In short a FAILURE.

EU Model – Stronger welfare support, better health care & housing, pragmatic approach including harm reduction and psychosocial inteventions, Public health more of a priority and some countries successfully decriminalising.

Consequences are that drug related deaths are more stable and a decrease in injecting drug use and HIV.

It unfortunately looks inevitable that with the recent and future cuts in welfare support in the UK it will make things even harder for people and we’ll be taking on more of the U.S style of continuing to lock more people up and withdrawing support for the most vulnerable.

So it seems we need to cross our fingers that we adopt our European neighbours policies than our U.S overlords. How can I put this politely….? Surely we’re in bed with them enough? Where is the sense in continuing with failed policy?

‘Oh well if America are failing with it then why not us too?’

DUMB!

Next up Tobacco Control & Marketing, Internet Gaming Addiction & Food Addiction. My fingers are flying…..

Thanks for reading, as always.

Stacey

Follow me on Twitter @StaceInspire and @InspireHandM

My response to David Oliver on Home Office blog – Drug Education

The Home Office have been piloting a blog asking for comments on the new Drug Strategy.

David Oliver has asked for comments on drug education and I have posted my own response which has now actually been published on it. The link is here http://drugstrategyblog.homeoffice.gov.uk/?p=5 or you can read my comments below…..

Stacey Smith said

March 15 2011 10.20

I have been involved in delivering both drug education and treatment to young people over the last eleven years. The main points I wish to share are as follows:

Inconsistency

Without a statutory framework I see it as an injustice to our young people that they aren’t given consistent approaches to something that could affect their lives so adversely. This is more difficult when the messages we receive generally in society are also so inconsistent and confusing. E.g Take this pill to change how you’re feeling but not that one, these drugs are bad and they’re illegal, some of these drugs are worse but they are legal. I’ve seen teachers giving completely biased and inaccurate information which discredits any actual messages that are delivered thereafter.

Drug education needs to be delivered and linked tightly with emotional literacy and lifeskills as within the SEAL approach. If young people are better supported with their emotional health then this decreases the risk factors associated with drugs including alcohol.

Willingness and competency

Whilst some teachers are very competent, the majority either do not want to deliver what they feel to be a difficult taboo subject or they have limited time and training opportunities to do so. We wouldn’t put an untrained Maths teacher in front of a class so why are we allowing teachers to deliver a subject they know nothing about?

Credibility

As well as for mainstream pupils but in particularly for those considered ’disaffected’ or ’vulnerable’ the information given by a teacher is not going to be absorbed (if they are there!) It is not going to be real to them.

I also believe there is a lot more value in informal drug education within youth settings and giving parents more access to attend sessions about drugs including alcohol.

Lack of targetted information

The generic FRANK campaign is not targetting the most vulnerable young people. Telling a 16 year old that Cannabis makes you sick when he has been smoking it since he was 12 isn’t helpful. There is great literature being produced out there (Lifeline, HIT) but often the agencies I work with would not have the funding to be able to purchase them.

A combination of teacher training, outside speakers, parents and most importantly a statutory framework for ALL schools would help.

Let’s give our future generations a better chance to succeed by crediting them with honest information and support.

My response to the David Cameron interview on Drugs & Legalisation

I felt the need to get a few things of my chest having just viewed the following video of our great leader David Cameron.

 

Please note in some ways I have been a fence sitter regarding the pros and cons of legalising Cannabis. I try and see both sides of the argument. However, his comments today in response to the questions he was asked are dimissive and make me very angry.

Point 1) Alcohol and Tobacco are more addictive. FACT. Alcohol damages the body far more and has far far far less medicinal benefit. Tobacco (Nicotine) is more addictive. FACT. You’re not answering the question Mr Cameron! Yes I believe Cannabis can lead to a psychological dependency for some people but if you are legally allowing people to make a choice to use Tobacco and Alcohol then why not Cannabis too? If you are so concerned about people’s physical and mental health why not ban them all?? We all know the answer to that.

Point 2) Hoorah, he agrees education in schools is vital. So provide us with a statutory framework compulsory in ALL schools, train teachers to give out credible information, fund programmes and services (coughs) that can deliver the goods. Redivert FRANK money so that those that are the most vulnerable get the information and support they need rather than basic, ill targetted and sometimes factually incorrect propaganda.

Point 3) IF

‘Marijuana’ is incredibly damaging and leads to HUGE mental health problems’

then it is BECAUSE of the fact it’s illegal and not properly regulated or controlled. It is in the hands of criminals. If higher THC levels in Cannabis contribute to an increased risk to mental health then if he really wanted to help people he would find a way to regulate. He allows Alcohol to continue to be legal which actually does contribute to HUGE mental health problems so on this basis, make Alcohol a Class B too!

Point 4) Dismissing a question about the medical use of Cannabis is quite bloody offensive. It had been proven countless times that it is much more beneficial and less addictive than drugs that the pharmaceutical companies he would advocate and probably has a vested interest in dish out. Thousands of people in our country are in pain and suffering and his policies criminalise them for wanting to be able to legally choose a drug that could help them a great deal to lead more fulfilling lives. It’ s not all just about stoners wanting to get high!

Point 5) Making drugs legal will make them more prevalent? Really?You know that? If policies to date have not worked why not try something different? Why not listen to the people that know what they are talking about? How about pulling your head out of your arse and seeing how dangerous and harmful your policies are? How about realising you have the power to really reduce the harm that ALL drugs can cause but politically you nor many politicians have the balls to make the radical changes that are so badly needed?

And so on and on and on and on.

Rant over. . .for now.

 

 

Volunteer Jeanette’s inspirational recovery journey

This is a special guest post from my volunteer and friend Jeanette who has kindly written this to share her own recovery story. She volunteered supporting the training I delivered whilst working for Birmingham DAAT and now I’m pleased to say for my very own Inspire Health and Mind. Having someone with real life experience involved in training people to understand is so valuable  and Jeanette is another example of why anyone with a dependency past or present should be given opportunities and never be given up on.

“Write something for the blog” says Stacey!! Hmmmm, now then where should I begin?

Well, my name is Jeanette, I am 51 years old, a recovering alcoholic, and have been dry for just about 2 years and 6 months.

I shied away from the word ‘recovery’ for a really long time, the reason being, in my mind an alcoholic never recovers, the best we can hope for is to ‘control it’. Then I did an Open University course on mental health, and found out what ‘in recovery’ actually meant. Basically it is used to describe a life that’s becoming an improvement on the past, a life that has quality. I can live with that….so now I agree, ‘I am in recovery’ and loving it.

I couldn’t say that recovery really began for the first 2 years though, that was a time where I had a lot of trial and error with ‘life and identity’…coming out of an addiction that has been a large part of you for a very, very long time, coming to terms with the things you have done and said, and the hurt you have caused leaves an almighty empty space inside…..I was a person without goals or purpose, an empty shell needing to be filled, a personality waiting to develop…..

Well here I am, on my 4^th OU course (working with children, young people and adults) and volunteering with Stacey’s Inspire Health and Mind. My life is full of new experiences and new goals, I am learning about things that I never would have even dreamed about…because they weren’t important in my life, the bottle was my life…. I’m using my experiences of alcohol and addiction to create awareness of the ease with which addiction can take over…..it moves in when you’re not looking and it doesn’t ever want to leave. Doing what I do makes my past a little easier to bear….without it, I wouldn’t be able to share a story that so many are afraid to tell….as for my future? Who knows what’s next, I don’t, but I do know I will embrace the challenges and changes that may come my way, not hide from them behind a bottle…

Jeanette & Stacey at the Birmingham DAAT Awards, November 2010

An inspiration I’m sure you’ll all agree. What she didn’t mention is that she was nominated and won the DAAT Award for outstanding contribution in November too. I’ve finally convinced Jeanette to join Twitter so you can follow her @JeanetteSiret.

Peace, love, empathy,

Stace x

@StaceInspire

@InspireHandM

Misjudging people who ‘do’ drugs! – Don’t get me wrong

This may get a bit ranty.

An issue that has again reared its head this weekend and recently is how some people who know me, including some I consider friends still don’t really understand what I do. It’s been nearly eleven years FFS! Maybe it’s because I don’t talk about it much at social occasions because of the misjudging thing, I hate people getting me all wrong. Hmmm.

Anyway, the two groups I’m going to refer to that I feel are misjudged are people who take drugs and people who work in the drugs field. (There is a crossover of course!)

People who ‘do’ drugs as in take drugs

Now I’m talking about what most of society consider ‘drugs’. Usually they mean illegal drugs. Obviously though this is not the case. Drugs, substances, whatever you want to call them can be  legal, illegal, over the counter and prescription. So really most of us take drugs. The people my work  supports are those that have suffered due to their use. My cause is to help society realise that they can treat them like humans rather than something you scrape of your shoe. People assume that if an individual uses a drug then they somehow deserve to be treated badly. If I know someone snorts Coke, I don’t treat them differently just because it’s not a choice I make. That’s their business.

People who ‘do’ drugs as in work in the drugs field

(When people ask what I do for a living I say ‘Drugs’. Then I try to briefly explain.)

For some reason, maybe an after effect of the widespread coverage in the 80′s of the ridiculous Just Say No campaign some people automatically assume that it’s about being anti drugs, that if you work in this field you just talk non stop about how drugs are bad. This is hilarious to me. I think drugs are great, without them I would be sprogged up several times over, my heart may have chosen not to work properly and when I get one of my super headaches I may not be such a well bunny. Luckily the fellow drug worker colleagues that I know are not anti-drugs either. We tend to just want people to be as happy and healthy as possible.

So to clarify….

• I train people who may come into contact with those that have addictions so that there is less judgement. As well as helping them understand what the effects can be my main passion is to highlight the effects stigma and discrimination can have and help them to find their empathy so they can support people as anyone with a health issue is entitled to be supported.

• I work with young people so they know their stuff so they can make informed choices whichever they may be.

• I train staff who come into contact with people with drug problems so that they can support them more effectively. If they can do this they are more like to get treatment and therefore have more chance of recovery. This helps the whole of society.

• I work with services users who are still in treatment,  or who have been in treatment in the past and who are trying to deal with their shit. A lot of people shy away from dealing with their issues. Problematic Drug and Alcohol users don’t have this option, sometimes because it is life or death they are choosing between.

• I also use a technique called EFT which helps people with all sort of emotional issues, including addictions and cravings. It’s really quite effective and although I know it could help a lot of my close friends and family I do not inflict it upon them. They can ask to try it by all means.

• 4 o clock on a Sunday morning when I’m outside a club isn’t in fact the work hours I set myself, especially now I’m self-employed. Yes I will help my friends but my work doesn’t mean I have to deal with everyone who is drunk or high. Just like if the toilets in the club got blocked a plumber reveller wouldn’t necessarily have to be the one to deal with it. .. I could think of more examples but you get my gist.

• It’s both funny and frustrating to me that whilst most  of my work involves helping people to be less judgemental of those that use drugs that I myself can be judged so poorly.

• Yes I take drugs. I drink Caffeine everyday, I take beta blockers everyday. I quite like a nice Co-codamol or two for my previously mentioned super headaches. Occasionally I drink the drug Alcohol which enhances a night out for me as it and other drugs may do for other people.

If anyone would like to know more about what I do please drop me an E-mail or even better speak to me face to face.

Peace, love, empathy

Stace x

Seven Famous Alcohol Related Deaths – Alcohol Awareness Week 2010

Not the jolliest of topics but I reckon quite apt and interesting to think about during Alcohol Awareness Week. Quite a few of these deaths were due to choking on vomit. High amounts of Alcohol can suppress the gag reflex (as can other Depressant drugs at high doses) which makes it deadly if someone falls unconscious. This is why it is important to try not to leave people who are very drunk or at the very least leave them in the recovery position to minimise the risks of choking.

Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning

Jimi Hendrix aged 27

The man without whom my partner’s leg and my brother’s back would be very bare. Jimi  choked on his own vomit which apparently mainly consisted of red wine. He had also taken sedatives. Incidentally this is the picture we have up in our living room!

Bon Scott – Lead Singer AC/DC aged 33

His friend had left him to sleep it off in the back of his car and found him dead the next morning.  Death caused by ‘aspiration of vomit’ and ‘acute alcohol poisoning’.

John Bonham  – Drummer Led Zeppelin aged 32

According to good old Wikipedia…

…it emerged that in the 24 hours before he died, John Bonham had consumed forty shots of vodka which resulted in him vomiting and subsequent aspiration (inhaling) of his vomit, causing asphyxiation.

Keith Moon – Drummer The Who aged 32

Notorious for his Alcohol consumption he died after taking prescribed medication which he was given to alleviate Alcohol withdrawal. The combination of these with Alcohol lead to his death.

Rory Gallagher  – Blues Guitarist aged 47

My Dad’s hero and bloody brilliant. A combination of prescribed drugs and Alcohol lead to liver disease. After a liver transplant he contracted MRSA and died in hospital. I’m going to visit Rory Gallagher Corner when I’m in Dublin next month for the National Drugs Conference.

 

Steve Clark – Guitarist Def Leppard aged 30

Battled against Alcohol dependency and finally lost the war aged 30 after a combination of Alcohol, Anti-Depressants and painkillers.

Stuart Cable  – Former Drummer Stereophonics and Kerrang DJ aged 40

I’ve included him because the articles this week on how he died gave me the idea for this post. Not a huge Stereophonics fan but I enjoyed him as a DJ on Kerrang Radio and loved his Welsh accent. His girlfriend found him dead after a drinking binge. This week it was confirmed his death was caused by choking on his own vomit as a result of Alcohol poisoning.

All a waste.

See the Drinkaware website if you need any information about Alcohol and tips to manage use.

Drink safe rockers!

Stace x

 

Seven Vids for Alcohol Awareness Week 2010

These are some of videos that I think are good enough to mention. I’ll start with the obvious ones, part of the ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign which surprised me at their time of release for actually being quite good. Although playing on vanity may seem a bit harsh, whatever works works and I think it does make (some) people think about how they come across when they are drunk. Of course as with all health messages some will work for certain people. No campaign can appeal to everyone. More targetted campaigns for particular groups may be more useful.

This one is a bit more hard hitting highlighting the dangers of leaving someone who is drunk on their own.

The use of comedy by Bill Bailey to give a serious message.

You might remember this one about the consequences of drink driving.

…and this one.

I also randomly came across this which I thought was quite clever about Alcohol related violence and football.

So there’s my seven. Happy Alcohol Awareness Week!

Stace x