Drug Concern helping more people than ever

By Simon Tostevin

DRUG CONCERN saw more people last year than ever before.

Manager Tracey Rear (pictured) said 2007 had been a great success, with the charity improving its responsiveness by offering more flexible hours of service provision and working better with prison inmates.

‘It was another successful year for Drug Concern. Largely as a result of our work in the prison, we were able to reach a substantially increased number of clients.’ The charity’s annual report for 2007 showed that the total number of new clients rose by 50% to 298, compared with 2006.

‘This increase arose mainly from the appointment during 2006 of the full-time Drug Concern prison worker.

‘More than a third of new clients went on to receive a structured programme of work.

‘During 2007 we were successful in increasing support for clients upon release from prison into the community, with the aim of bringing about sustained change.

‘To do this, we arranged three-way meetings of the Drug Concern prison worker, the community drug worker and the prisoner prior to release.’

However, the charity is actively seeking alternative premises to those at The Orchard Centre in Grande Rue, St Martin’s, which are on a short-term lease.

Mrs Rear said the need to maintain client confidentiality and limited finances meant the problem of premises was not always an easy one to solve but that one possible site was currently being looked at.

She added: ‘While it continues to be the case that the majority of clients are 30 years of age or older, there has been a significant shift in the number of clients up to the age of 20.

‘The drugs for which the majority of clients seek help are heroin or pharmaceutical opiates.’

Statistics for the needle exchange show an average of 31 people using the facility at any one time.