Exploring community responses to
drugs
On 9 December 2004, the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation (JRF) published a report (Exploring community responses to
drugs) which explores the role of community responses to drugs
through a national survey and a series of
detailed case studies. Findings include:
- Relationships
with professionals raise important questions
of power, which are often expressed as
concerns about tokenism (for instance public
meetings and consultation.)
- Partnerships
between community and professionals raise
important issues of risk and trust.
- Professionals
often (but not always) resolve the potential
risks associated with community involvement by
falling back onto models of engagement which
give away little decision-making power and
limit the community to a 'sensitising' and
'gap-filling' role.
- Very few
community responses focused on law
enforcement; most concentrated on social
welfare interventions. While some situations
produced clear community support for
police-led 'crackdowns', community members
also emphasised the need for more sympathetic
and inclusive responses.
- There was
little evidence of drug user or carer
involvement in strategic decision-making
structures.
- The
researchers concluded that meaningful
community engagement demands an element of
risk-taking and risk-management by
professionals, and suggest several ways
forward.
The full report can be viewed on Joseph
Rowntree Foundation website
