Cuts threaten war on drug abuse
Funding cuts and reforms to public services risk reversing the declining trend in drug abuse among young people, campaigners have warned.
NHS reforms, the introduction of police and crime commissioners and the growing use of payment by results could lead to services for young people increasingly having to compete for funding with adult care budgets, the report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), DrugScope and Mentor said.
Nicola Singleton, the UKDPC’s director of policy and research, said: “Drug use among young people has fallen sharply over the last decade, at the same time as we saw a sustained investment in young people’s services. Now these services are threatened by financial pressure and the speed of current public service reforms.”