SSPSSR Criminal Justice expert Professor Alex Stevens says rising numbers of drug deaths in England and Wales are due to cuts in funding for life-saving treatment, not an ‘ageing cohort’.
His comments come in response to data issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week, which reveal the highest levels of deaths related to drug poisoning since records began in 1993.
Professor Stevens comments:
‘In the 2016 Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report on “reducing opioid-related deaths in the UK”, we identified four potential causes of rising opioid deaths:
- The increasing vulnerability as they age of people who started using heroin in the 1980s and 90s (the so-called “ageing cohort” hypothesis)
- The increased availability of heroin (which dipped in 2010 – 2012 due to a “heroin drought” across western Europe)
- Deepening of socio-economic deprivation in Scotland and the north of England. Drug deaths are multiple times higher in areas of deprivation
- Changes to drug treatment, for which funding has been substantially cut since 2012.
‘All these factors still apply. The ONS and some media reporting are making much of the ageing cohort explanation. There are at least two problems with this. One is that these deaths are not rising in London, so there must be something more complex going on. The other is that we have known for years that a cohort with high levels of risk was growing older and more vulnerable. Instead of investing in services that would keep them alive, this funding has been cut. For example, the main recommendation of the 2016 ACMD report was at least to maintain investment in opioid substitution therapy (the treatment which has the greatest evidence for saving these lives). Instead, the government continued to cut this funding.
‘Dame Carol Black’s second report on drugs (published last month) shows just how bad an effect these cuts have had on the drug treatment system, which she found to be ‘not fit for purpose. In its response to her report, the government re-announced some funding announcements they had previously made. But they did not commit to the level of funding that Dame Carol calculated to be necessary (£552 million in additional investment per year, which she estimated would produce savings five times greater).’
See also: Professor Stevens is quoted in an article by The Telegraph on ‘Codeine-related deaths spike by almost 25 per cent in year’.
Professor Alex Stevens has worked on issues of drugs, crime and public health in the voluntary sector, as an academic researcher and as an adviser to the UK government. He has published extensively on these issues, with a focus on the drug-crime link, risk behaviours by young people, on the use of evidence in policy, and on quasi-compulsory drug treatment. His published works include a book on Drugs, Crime and Public Health, studies of alternatives to criminalisation for drug possession (including decriminalisation in Portugal), on gangs and on policy making.
Professor Stevens’ interest in drugs and crime dates back to his time working with UK charity Prisoners Abroad, which provides advice and information to British prisoners held in foreign prisons, and as European project manager and coordinator of the European Network of Drug and HIV/AIDS Services in Prison for Cranstoun Drugs Services.
He was a member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs from 2014 to 2019, and President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy from 2015 to 2019. He is currently trustee of Harm Reduction International and a member of the scientific committee of Drug Science.
At SSPSSR, Professor Stevens teaches modules on drugs, criminal justice and social research methods at undergraduate level. At postgraduate level, he supervises MA dissertations and PhD theses.
Follow Professor Stevens on Twitter: @AlexStevensKent