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Welcome
to
the NDPA homepage, we hope you'll find it interesting and useful.
We are a grouping of organisations and individuals who want to see more and better prevention operating in the UK, as part of the solution to the drug problem. This isn't something 'Someone else' does - it's YOUR opportunity, and your neighbour's, and your community's... Our aim is to help you become self-sufficient. If you need to know more, read on. |
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[ Introduction | The Situation | Resolutions | Supporters ] |
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Introduction Mission Statement The NDPA is a network of concerned citizens and prevention professionals who believe that drug-free healthy lifestyles will protect and enhance society and its stability for present and future generations. NDPA promotes effective policies, using all means available to its members, including prevention, education, intervention, treatment and legal processes. About the NDPA Born 1993, NDPA has developed into one of the most authoritative voices in the field of drug prevention. Membership embraces all disciplines in the field, and is widely based in society at large, imparting balance and strength to NDPA’s work. There is a clear understanding of why drug misuse happens and - more importantly - why it need not happen. In 1996 the value of NDPA was recognised by a three-year grant from National Lottery Charities Board, allowing operations to be consolidated. At national level NDPA has contributed to significant effect in both the current strategy (Build a Better Britain) and its predecessor (Tackling Drugs Together), also the BMA (medical uses of cannabis), the Lords (cannabis for medical or social use) and the Police Foundation (review of Misuse of Drugs Act 1971). NDPA members present papers at regional, national and international conferences, the latter as part of an enviable international network. Meanwhile input to Drug Advisory Teams (DAT) and Drug Reference Groups (DRG) is soundly based in NDPA’s grass roots project work - home, school, community, sports centre, workplace, church/mosque/temple - anywhere that help is needed. Accredited research is collected and disseminated by NDPA through its bulletin ‘The Prevention Works’. Out of this and other services NDPA has become a ‘must call’ agency for the media, politicians, drug professionals, police forces, community services and - not least - members of the public looking for straight answers. The way forward is seen as involving the whole of the community, each in their appropriate way. The varied impact of drug misuse on each element of the community - not just on the user - needs better definition. But more so does the potential for every element to contribute fruitfully to Prevention. The need for NDPA has never been greater. Far from being pushed into retreat by Government’s greater focus on drugs, the libertarian tendency has stepped up its efforts, in effect encouraging the drug suppliers. Youth and parents alike face a sustained barrage of (mostly) pro-drug material on screen and page. The impression is given that ‘everyone’ is into drugs - as if drugs were today’s Style Accessory. Parents become fatalistic, youth become intrigued, and both become deeply confused. The excitement, positivity and richness of a drug-free lifestyle hardly gets a mention.The road to clarity and healthy living is set to be long and hard, it seems. But if there is one guide you can rely on it is the NDPA. |
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[ Introduction | The Situation | Resolutions | Supporters ] |
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The Situation Today Britain has a drug problem. Of that much we can be certain. Solutions tried so far have been less certain. People are counselled, or treated, or rehabilitated. Consignments of drugs are intercepted; sometimes people go to prison. Police seek to uphold the law on the streets but also to assist in steering young people away from drugs. However none of us would claim that this is unqualified success. All this would be bad enough if we were operating in a neutral environment - negative behaviour on the one hand and efforts to correct this on the other, as with burglary for example. But with drug use this is not the case. A ‘third force’ is at work, promoting the free right to drugs, or even, in extremis, the right to free drugs! Harm Reduction' is a dishonest title for a process which seeks to facilitate drug use at the expense of the rest of society. This process has nothing to do with the sort of intervention which drug workers have traditionally practiced on a 1-to-1 basis with known users seeking to bring their lives under control. 'Harm Reduction' is a philosophy delivered to all, whether they are users or not; it seeks to loosen control and validate drug use. This tactic even pervades our schools' drug education system in covert propaganda for drug libertarianism. It would be easy to cave in under all this pressure, but for many of us- and that includes the NDPA- the healthy development of society for ALL is more important than legitimising the instant gratification of a few. |
Prevention
- The
KEY Strategy There
is solid evidence of how to put the drug problem into reverse. Not just
theory but practice, proven by evaluation over many years. The answer
is Prevention (sometimes known as primary prevention).This is not to say that response systems such as counselling, treatment, rehabilitation and the customs/legal systems should be jettisoned. Rather, what is needed is an integrated system of ‘prevention and response’ involving all these initiatives across the whole community, together with businesses, religious groups, youth and adult social systems, and more. But the main emphasis deserves to be on prevention, for it is here that the largest successes have been measured. Members of the NDPA are already pioneering in UK some of the proven processes of Prevention. There is a rich variety of technology to be mined in Europe, Australasia and the Americas, known only by a tiny handful of specialists here. For prevention to succeed most effectively it is important to address each of the negative factors presently affecting our society, whether at the macro or micro level. NDPA has already made a start on identifying and suggesting practical changes for some of these, and our work has a long way to go yet. |
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But it will go a long way, with your help. Please support the NDPA [ Introduction | The Situation | Resolutions | Supporters ] |
| NDPA Resolutions Resolutions agreed by the Executive Council will obviously be subject to change and augmentation as NDPA itself grows. Full listing of Resolutions is available on request, but this brief synopsis gives a good measure of NDPA’s current strategy:
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| Ben’s Friends* Mr. Anthony Johnson (Clouds Health Promotion)* Mr David Raynes (Retired HM Customs & Excise) * Positive Prevention Plus* D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) UK Yeldall Christian Centres* Janet & Paul Betts (A.D.A.) Mrs. Frances Lawrence Parents Network (Bristol) Mrs. Mary Brett (Teacher, Biologist) Mr Barry Twigg Mr. Will Palin (Youth Trust)* Mr. Stuart McNeillie (Justice Systems)* Big Brothers and Sisters (Mentors UK) National Committee for Prevention of Addiction Assn. for Research: Infant & Child Development Dunlewey Substance Advice Centre (Belfast) |
Frank
Talks
(Belfast) Mr. John Russell MBE Mr. Leslie Brotherton (ex President, NAYCEO) Mrs Diana Coade Drug Watch International International Drug Strategy Institute Community Awareness of Drugs (Dublin) EURAD (Europe Against Drugs) Families for Change (Scotland) Mr. Bill Rice (ex Ch. Exec., TACADE) Mrs. Maxie Richards (Glasgow) Mr Geoffrey Davies * Dr. Adrian Rogers (Exeter) Maranatha Community (Manchester) Mrs. Dawn Lowe-Watson (West Sussex) Mr. Brian Heywood |