The responsibility of the Bailiwick’s Drug and Alcohol Strategy no longer sits with the Committee for Home Affairs, but the Committee for Health and Social Care, which has devised the plan.
“This emphasises the need for a balanced approach to tackling the harms caused by drugs, supporting people through treatment and recovery and restricting the supply of drugs,” said the President of HSC, Deputy Al Brouard.
“The same principles are applicable to tobacco control and alcohol use.”
The strategy will, according to HSC, promote and protect health and wellbeing in the island, by minimising the harm caused by substance abuse, using “evidence-based international treaties, legislation, policy, and actions.”
Deputy Brouard continued: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has focused the need to consider health and wellbeing across the islands of the Bailiwick and the Combined Substance Use Strategy will be a key contributor in helping us emerge from the pandemic both healthier and stronger.
“The Committee recognises the work of the many partners in the third sector who will help us to achieve these aims,” said Deputy Brouard.
Pictured: These priorities will guide the work done on the Drug and Alcohol Strategy for the next five years.
The strategy highlights three areas of work going forward; for services, for government, and for the community, each containing numerous priorities.
HSC wants to work with the third sector and the community to improve the awareness of the link between domestic abuse and alcohol abuse, after it was revealed that 48% of domestic abuse callouts involve alcohol.
The strategy has been built around findings in both the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the Health and Justice Review.
The JSNA has been published alongside the strategy and provides an overview of drinking, smoking, and drug-taking habits in the Bailiwick.
Alcohol abuse has been cited as a far more widespread problem than either drug or tobacco dependency, with concerns that our culture normalises regular alcohol consumption.
Express breaks down the findings of the JSNA HERE and you can read the full strategy ONLINE.
