Have your say on the Drug and Alcohol Service Plan Drug and Alcohol Service Plan We want to find out how we can make Hertfordshire’s adult drug and alcohol services better. We want to know what you think about our plan. This paper is one way you have a chance to have your say. Information o What drugs are, and how people take them. o Drugs and the law. o What we want to do to help people who abuse drugs. Before we start using this plan we want you to ‘have your say’ about it. o This will help us know if we have left anything out and need to make any changes. To make this plan work we are going to have action plans. o We want your ideas to help us make good action plans together. 1 What are drugs? Drugs can affect the way you feel Drugs can be natural things Drugs can affect the way you behave Drugs can be made from chemicals 2 How people take drugs Drinking alcohol Eating Smoking Sniffing the drug up your nose Drinking the drug mixed with alcohol or something else Using a needle to inject the drug 3 Are all drugs illegal? Some drugs are legal This means something that the law says it is okay for you to do. Some things are only okay if you are over a certain age, like buying cigarettes or driving a car. Some people think legal things will not harm you. But some legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol can seriously damage your physical health or mental health. Some drugs are illegal This means something that is against the law. If you get caught by the police doing something illegal, you may be arrested and have to go to prison or pay a fine. 4 Drugs and the law Some drugs can be prescribed for you by a doctor – these drugs are sometimes called medication. You take medication to make you feel better when you are sick. Some drugs are legal for some people, and not for others. Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults but not children. Some drugs are legal to buy, but can be abused. ‘Poppers’ and ‘Solvents’ (like glue, gas, and aerosols) are legal to buy but can be abused. Some drugs are illegal to have, use, sell or give away. Cocaine, Crack, Ecstasy, and Heroin are illegal to have, use, sell or give away. You can get into trouble for having drugs or giving them to someone even if you do not take them yourself. Some drugs are illegal if used in a certain way. Magic mushrooms and Anabolic Steroids are illegal if used in a certain way. 5 Our Plan We want to help people who look after a friend or family member that abuses drugs. We want people who abuse drugs to be able to talk to someone who can help them make the changes they want to make. We want people who have more than one addiction to get help for all their addictions in one place. We want people who abuse drugs to get support from people like them. 6 We want to make sure people who abuse drugs have access to the right medication. We want people who abuse drugs to get support from a place where people aren’t using drugs. We want all services to work well together to help people who abuse drugs and have other problems. We want there to be help for people who abuse drugs if they have an emergency. 7 We want people who abuse drugs to get support to do new things that make them feel good. We want people who abuse drugs to get help with a friend. We want to offer support to people who abuse drugs, after they leave treatment. 8 What do you think about the things that we want to do in our plan? 9 Are the things in our plan already available near where you live? 10 How do you think we should help people who abuse drugs? 11 Tell us about anything big that hasn’t been included in the plan? Why is it important for this to go into the plan? 12 You can send this form back to us by: Email: Natasha.Welsh@hertfordshire.gov.uk Or By writing to us : Your address Natasha Welsh Commissioning Manager Public Health Integrated Health and Care Commissioning Team 2nd Floor SFAR224 Farnham House Six Hills Way Stevenage SG1 2FQ If you want a reply, add your name and address 13