News & events

Back to Home Office Drugs E-bulletins

Drugs E-bulletin - July 2008

Welcome to the July 2008 edition of the e-bulletin for the Home Office drugs website.

This month's news includes:

Tackling Drugs Awards 2008
Tackling Drugs Week 2008
Blueprint drug education research programme
Recent publications

Tackling Drugs Awards 2008

These awards recognise people who have made an outstanding contribution to tackling drug issues. Now in their third year, the Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards provide national recognition for individuals and teams that carry out inspirational work at a local level.

Ten regional awards are on offer to both individuals and teams working in any sector of the drugs field. The two national winners will receive up to £10,000 for their organisation to spend on developing their work in the drugs field.

The Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards ensure that this life-changing work is recognised. Does someone you know deserve an award for the work that they do?

Please see the nomination guide to learn more about the awards and to complete an on-line nomination. For leaflets and posters to promote the week please see the communication publication section. The deadline for entries is 31 August 2008.

For more information and to make a nomination please see the Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards page

Tackling Drugs Week 19-23 May 2008

A big thank you to everyone who contributed towards making Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Week such a success.

This year there was an unprecedented level of activity around the country which generated excellent media coverage to highlight the tremendous work being done locally to tackle drug misuse. Over 300 events were held across the country to mark the week.

Read more about the Tacking Drugs Changing Lives Week

Blueprint drug education research programme

Work on drafting of the Blueprint programme final impact report will be ongoing over the summer with the intention of releasing a final report by the end of October 2008.
The draft of the Blueprint programme final impact report is being prepared with the intention of the final report being released by the end of October 2008.

Blueprint is the largest research programme of its kind ever run in England. It is designed to test the delivery of an evidence-based drug education programme for young people, supported by work with parents, wider communities, local media and health professionals.

Home Office policy and research officials will work intensively over the summer with colleagues at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the research contractor team at the University of Stirling to ensure that programme findings are robust. The hope is to identify issues arising from the research and draw reliable conclusions from the enormous amount of research material generated by the programme.

The aim of the final impact report is to be a good quality and credible addition to the worldwide evidence base, as were the Blueprint delivery and practitioner reports released in November 2007 which have informed the DCSF's drug education review work over the spring.

Recent publications

Safer Nightlife

Produced by the London Drug Policy Forum and the Home Office, Safer Nightlife promotes best practice for all those working in the night-time economy.
In particular it is aimed at:

licensing authorities
police and fire officers
venue managers/promoters
health promotion workers

The purpose of Safer Nightlife is to help ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in, and going out to, events in pubs and clubs with particular emphasis on those who also take drugs. The document provides dedicated advice on a range of key issues including creating a safe physical environment, tackling drug dealing, reducing harm from drug use, promoting sexual health and developing a drug policy.

You can view the document on the London Drug Policy Forum website (new window) or you can order hard copies by calling Prolog on 0870 2414680 quoting reference CDSD14.

Cocaine: what you need to know

A new addition to the suite of FRANK leaflets, Cocaine: what you need to know, contains the real facts on cocaine from how it's produced, what the risks and effects are, dangers of mixing with alcohol, the law and the impact on producing countries. It also includes information on addiction and the impact on relationships and features stories from young people.

This is available to order by telephone 08701 555 455 quoting reference 288124.

Go to navigation