Plan to stem the tide of young lives lost to Blackpool drug use
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There are more than 2,000 opiate and crack cocaine users in the town and more than 600 people have been admitted to hospital in a single year with mental health and behavioural disorders linked to their drug use.
Meanwhile a survey of Year 10 pupils (14 and 15-year-olds) in Blackpool found a third had been offered cannabis.
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Hide AdA meeting of Blackpool’s Health and Wellbeing Board, made up of councillors, health officials and voluntary sector representatives, approved an updated Drug Harm Reduction Strategy including seven key measures.
* Reduce accidental overdose including by use of the medicaton naloxone which blocks the effects of narcotics.
* Improve health services for people with drug addictions who often neglect their general physical health.
* Encourage consistent advice in schools on drug misuse and its implications.
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Hide Ad* Support families, particularly children, exposed to substance misuse. This includes helping families stay together while protecting children.
* Work with the police to disrupt criminal activity including on the ADDER project (addiction, diversion, disruption, enforcement, recovery) which is a three year pilot funded by the Home Office.
* Support recovery by helping people back into the community through job opportunities and meeting their housing needs.
* Public health will work with partners from the voluntary sector and the NHS particularly around issues such as homelessness and mental health.
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Hide AdTracy Hopkins, chief executive of the Blackpool Citizens Advice Bureau, was among those who welcomed the strategy.
She told the meeting: “There is a lot of work that happens on the ground in terms of supporting people and we need a more streamlined approach to joining up these services.”
She added it was vital to teach young people about the dangers of drugs.
Ms Hopkins said: “If as a town we take that approach and start with the education of young people, that’s where we’ll see a difference in terms of attitude to drugs and alcohol.”
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Hide AdBut she also warned her services had seen an increase in people coming forward with addiction problems, particularly relating to alcohol, due to suffering social isolation during lockdown.
Blackpool Council’s director of public health Dr Arif Rajpura said the town “lost a lot of young lives to drugs”.
This included people in their 20s and 30s through overdoses, as well as people in their 40s and 50s due to neglect of their physical health.
This was one of the reasons Blackpool as a town has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country.
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