Officials want 'generational shift' in attitudes in bid to 'combat' Halton drug harm
Council, police, NHS, drug and alcohol workers, and probation have teamed up to form the Halton Combating Drugs Partnership.
A crack pipe. (Reach PLC)
Efforts to reduce harms associated with drug use in Widnes and Runcorn have led to the creation of the Halton Combating Drugs Partnership (HCDP).
The collaboration between Halton Borough Council, Cheshire Constabulary, substance misuse services, probation, and the Police and Crime Commissioner's office held its first meeting in September at the DCBL Stadium in Widnes.
Health chiefs are due to receive a briefing on the initiative at an upcoming Halton Council Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on Wednesday, October 12.
A report published for councillors said the project's goals are to break drug supply chains, provide access to "world class" treatment and recovery.
The partnership's launch follows the publication of the Government's From Harm to Hope: A 10 year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives plan last December and updated in April, and in response to Dame Carol Black's independent review in February 2020, which called for increased support to help users to quit and described Government interventions to restrict supply as having had "limited success" - albeit being published before the landmark Operation Venetic hack of the EncroChat network and its ongoing prosecutions.
HCDP will measure progress as set out by the national strategy and will involve developing an assessment of drug data, data sharing protocols, a "local combating drugs delivery plan", monitoring outcomes in Halton, and reviews.
Efforts to "break supply chains" is expected to aim to reduce organised crime groups' (OCGs) ability to operate, suppressing the supply of the "most harmful drugs", "attacking all stages" of the supply chain, deterring associated violence and exploitation, and "protecting prisons from being academies of crime".
The council report said the goal is to achieve a "generational shift" in demand for drugs, by trying to alter societal attitudes around the "perceived acceptability" of illegal drug use, ensuring tougher consequences and providing education, prevention and early intervention while supporting residents who are most at risk of the harms of substance misuse.
Describing efforts to improve treatment access, the report said: "The national aspiration is to deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system in England within a decade.
"Halton Combating Drugs Partnership will reflect this aspiration to treat addiction as a chronic health condition, breaking down stigma, saving lives, and substantially breaking the cycle of crime that addiction can drive.
"Plans will recognise alcohol dependence and wider alcohol-related harms, considering the multiple complex needs."
The partnership is expected to produce its plan by January 2023.
Halton spans the towns of Widnes and Runcorn, Cheshire, and some neighbouring villages.
