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List of members

The current list of members with information on their professional backgrounds.


Dr Dima Abdulrahim

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Research Briefings Manager - National Treatment Agency

Lord Victor Adebowale

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Chief Executive of Turning Point. Victor joined Turning Point as Chief Executive in 2001. Turning Point is the UK’s leading social care organisation working with people facing a range of complex needs including substance misuse, mental health problems and learning disabilities. Victor began his career in Local Authority Estate Management before joining the housing association movement.  He was Director of the Alcohol Recovery Project and Chief Executive of youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. In 2000, Victor was awarded the CBE for services to the New Deal, the unemployed and homeless young people and in 2001 was appointed a People’s Peer.

Mr Martin Barnes

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Chief Executive of Drugscope. DrugScope is the UK's leading independent centre of expertise on drugs and drugs policy. He was previously Director of the Child Poverty Action Group which works for the abolition of poverty among children in the UK. He is a trustee of the Family Welfare Association and a member of the advisory board for Transact, the national forum for financial inclusion.

Dr Margaret Birtwistle

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Specialist GP, Senior Tutor - Education and Training Unit, St George's Hospital & Forensic Medicine Examiner

Simon Bray

Newly Appointed 1 January 2008- 31 December 2010

Simon is a Commander in the Metropolitan Police and currently oversees the policing of 10 south London boroughs.  His career has included a variety of uniform, detective and specialist roles, with secondments to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Cabinet Office.  He has been a member of the drugs committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) since 2005 and leads for ACPO on drugs precursors, drugs in sport and methamphetamine.

Eric Carlin

Newly Appointed 1 January 2008- 31 December 2010

Eric is the former Chief Executive of Mentor UK.  Eric has twice been elected as Chair of the English Drug Education Forum and he currently holds that position.

Ms Carmel Clancy

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Principal Lecturer in Mental Health and Addictions, Middlesex University.

Professor Ilana Crome

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Professor of Addiction Psychiatry, Keele University Medical School, Harplands Hospital.

Ms Robyn Doran

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Registered Mental Health Nurse & Service Director, Substance Misuse CNWL Mental Health Trust.

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010.

Mr Patrick Hargreaves

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 - 31 December 2010

Patrick Hargreaves is a school inspector, the Drugs & Alcohol Advisor for Durham County Council and a regional PSHEE advisor for the DCSF.  He has worked as a youth worker, taught in the primary, secondary and FE sectors and has managed a pupil referral unit for permanently excluded young people. He regularly reviews resources for Drugscope and the DCSF.  He sits on the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs

Ms Caroline Healy

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Caroline Healy works in the Department of Health, implementing the commissioning strategy for the mental health of young people in secure settings. She has recently been working with Local Authorities in the East Midlands in their implementation of Every Child Matters. She has many years of multi agency, children’s services’ experience, her main area of expertise is within the health field, having spent many years as an NHS professional and manager.

Caroline was the Director for England at ChildLine, the UK wide voluntary organisation working directly with children, she also spent 5 years as the Health Adviser to the Sure Start Unit in DfES. In this role, she provided advice on children’s health issues, on NHS structures and on the roles of health professionals, to inform the development of Sure Start Unit policy, such as children’s centres, local programmes and extended schools. She also worked with local authorities in facilitating their multi agency strategy in the development of these children’s services, bringing together local authority and health partners to reduce professional barriers and promote joint working, in order to improve the outcomes for children and families, particularly those living in areas of deprivation.

Caroline is a member of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs and is Chair of the ACMD Pathways to Problems Working Group; she is a JP in the London Borough of Haringey, where she is a magistrate on the Family Proceedings Panel.

Matthew Hickman

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Reader in Public Health and Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol

Professor Leslie Iversen

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Retired Professor of Pharmacology, University of Oxford. A neuropharmacologist who has worked in academia and in industry. His research focuses on the actions of drugs on the brain. Les acted as Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords "Cannabis" enquiry (1998) and a member of the Royal College of Physicians enquiry into medical uses of cannabis (2006). The author of two books on psychoactive drugs: "The Science of Marijuana”, OUP, 2000 & 2008, and "Speed, Ecstasy and Ritalin: the Science of Amphetamines", OUP, 2006.


David Liddell

Appointed 1 January 2008-31 December 2010

Director of the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF). He has played an active role within the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse since its inception in 1995 and has been a Secretary to the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Drug and Alcohol Misuse Group since 1999.  He served on the Ministerial Drug Task Force in Scotland 1994 and was a key player in the development of harm reduction services in Scotland, advocating the introduction of needle exchanges and substitute prescribing programmes.

David represents Scottish Drug Forum on the Hepatitis C Action Plan Co-ordinating Group in Scotland and has championed the role of User Involvement and human rights/advocacy services for users. He has made a significant contribution to promote access to, and investment in, employability and other routes out of problematic drug use.  

Mr Peter Martin

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Independent Consultant in Substance Misuse. Peter has over 30 years experience of drug treatment and rehabilitation. He was CEO of Addaction, the national drug charity, for 15 years before he became an independent consultant in substance misuse in 2006. He studied drugs and HIV/Aids on a Churchill Fellowship and was a member of The Parole Board for England and Wales 1994 -2000. He is qualified in social work and in youth and community development work.

Dr Fiona Measham

Appointed 28 April 2009- 27 April 2012

Dr Fiona Measham was appointed to Lancaster University in 2000 and is now Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Applied Social Science.
Dr Fiona Measham is a nationally renowned researcher with over 20 years' experience in the fields of drug and alcohol use, gender, licensed leisure and the relationship between crime and culture

Dr Anita Nolan

Appointed 28 April 2009- 27 April 2012

Dr Anita Nolan: Consultant, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Oral Medicine, Dundee Dental Hospital, NHS Tayside. In a previous post, Anita was involved in the provision of dental care and research into the oral health of drug users. Other current positions include being a member of the Fitness to Practice Panel of the General Dental Council and an elected Board Member of the Faculty of Dentistry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Mr Trevor Pearce

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Executive Director. Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)

District Judge Justin Philips

Newly Appointed 1 January 2008- 31 December 2010

Judge Philips was appointed to the Bench in 1989 after 19 years as a criminal barrister. He became a District Judge in 2000. From 1994 he also sat in the Crown Court resigning as a Recorder in 2006 to devote his time to the West London Dedicated Drugs Court of which he is lead Judge. Judge Philips is a Patron of Drugfam.

Richard Phillips

Newly Appointed 1st January 2008- 31 December 2010


Ian Ragan

Newly Appointed 6 February 2008-31 December 2010

Dr C. Ian Ragan is the Director of CIR Consultancy Ltd providing consultancy services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.  He was previously Executive Director, Neuroscience Research, Europe, for Eli Lilly and more recently their Consultant for European Scientific Affairs.  In the latter role he was Lilly’s representative on the Research Directors Group of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) and a member and ex-Chair of the R&D Committee of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.  Currently he is the Innovative Medicines Initiative Advisor to EFPIA and chairs their IMI Governance Task Force.  He is the Executive Director of the European Brain Council, Chairman of Psynova Neurotech Ltd, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Capsant Neurotechnologies, a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Evotec AG and BioSim, and a trustee of Autism Speaks.

Mr Howard Roberts

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008- 31 December 2010

Deputy Chief Constable, Nottinghamshire Police . After graduating with a degree in Law LLB (Hons), he began a policing career with North Wales Police and had a strong interest in tackling drug issues. In 2001 he was selected as an Assistant Chief Constable in Nottinghamshire. He has worked extensively combating the supply of class A drugs in Nottinghamshire and played a strong part in developing, with other agencies, the innovative Sherwood Project which won the National Criminal Justice Award, in 2005, for the outstanding management of offenders.  Selected as Deputy Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police in June 2003, he has been an active member of the ACPO Drugs Committee and has held the portfolio for Drug Treatment and Education. He became the Committee’s Vice-Chair in 2005.

Dr Mary Rowlands

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Consultant Psychiatrist. Currently a Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist providing secondary care drug and alcohol treatment services in Devon Partnership NHS Trust, developing an interest in teaching as an Honorary Lecturer since 2004 at the Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter. Mary developed and provided a Young Persons service and Criminal Justice Service (Arrest Referral, and Drug Treatment and Testing Orders) in Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, 1996-2004. Previously she was Head of Healthcare Services for Prisoners in HMP Bristol where she was also involved in the National Prison Drugs Strategy within the Prison Department and developed pilot drug programmes for opiate detoxification and 3 months rehabilitation.

Dr Polly Taylor

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Freelance Consultant in Veterinary Anaesthesia. A veterinary surgeon who graduated in 1976. After  a few years in general practice she specialised in anaesthesia,  becoming Reader in Anaesthesia in the Department of Clinical  Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge. In 2002 she became an independent consultant in Veterinary Anaesthesia, dividing her time between clinical anaesthesia, teaching for Continued Professional Development, anaesthesia for research and drug registration.

Ms Monique Tomlinson

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Freelance consultant in substance misuse

Mr Arthur Wing

Re-appointed from 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010

Assistant Chief Officer, Sussex Probation Area

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