I am wondering how the recession might impact on drug services. The barrage of doom and gloom we hear daily in the news would have us all believe that the country is destitute, all government spending will be slashed, and all our patients must get out to work or have their benefits withheld. And yet surely there can not be any other branch of medicine that is more cost effective? whilst we are all stuffing seven million drugs down the (unwilling) throats of hypertensives and diabetics at enormous cost, simple treatment for heroin dependency saves a fortune to the public purse by every measurable criterion since such things were first measured 40 years ago.
But of course treating heroin dependency is not a great vote winner - and all our politicians are trying to curry favour with the electorate at a time when very few of them emerge with much credit from one scandal or another. So we all have a duty to remind all the opinion formers and anyone with any public profile exactly how important this work is.
New this month? check out the NTA's potted "Story of Drug Treatment" - it's a good read and you can get it by
clicking here. And opposite check out the new DS Daily in the links bar from our friends at Drugscope.
