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Drugs and Alcohol

Alcohol

Alcohol can play a positive role as part of social and family life through sensible drinking. However excessive alcohol consumption among some groups is a cause of serious concern, reflected by Government policy and the general public. It is easy to end up drinking more than you intended to as many people underestimate how much they actually consume.

The NHS recommends that adults should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day for men and 2-3 units a day for women.

Nevertheless some people in West Oxfordshire suffer because of the negative effects of alcohol. The Community Safety Partnership is working with a wide range of agencies to tackle alcohol misuse and its associated harms.

The Oxfordshire Alcohol Strategy

The Oxfordshire Alcohol Strategy 2008-2011 aims to minimise the negative effects associated with alcohol on individuals, families, local communities and public services, whilst ensuring that people are able to enjoy alcohol safely and responsibly.

Some of the agreed priorities include reducing alcohol related disorder, increasing the consistency of alcohol awareness for all ages and commissioning alcohol treatment services for those affected by alcohol misuse.

Alcohol Related Disorder

Alcohol related crime and disorder can take many forms from anti-social behaviour and violence to drink driving. It doesn’t just affect individuals but can impact negatively on whole communities.

In West Oxfordshire there are three Neighbourhood Action Groups whose top issues include anti-social behaviour, covering underage drinking and alcohol related crime.

West Oxfordshire Nightsafe

Nightsafe is a campaign designed to tackle alcohol related crime and disorder, by reducing the number of alcohol related incidents taking place in the street or licensed premises. It also aims to change the drinking culture through raising awareness in local media and schools education.

Nightsafe’s four key components are:

  • Media campaigns
  • Targeting offenders
  • Licensing enforcement
  • High visibility policing

Many initiatives have been launched in West Oxfordshire under the Nightsafe umbrella. These include:

  • Licensed premises displaying posters about responsible drinking and anti-drugs messages.
  • Purchasing radios for each licensed premise in Witney town centre. The radios provide a direct link with the CCTV Control Room and each other in order to increase awareness of incidents and to deal with them as quickly as possible. CCTV has now also been introduced to Carterton town centre with nine local businesses linked up via radios.
  • Issuing 13,000 Spikeys to licensed premises to prevent bottled drinks from being spiked.
  • Two DVD school education packages. “Wasted Nights”  and "Too Wasted" both raise awareness of the night-time economy, underage drinking and the consequences of alcohol-related disorder. 
  • Lollipops were distributed to licensees during the festive period in 2006, following evidence that giving sugar to drinkers stablises their behaviour and reduces the resulting alcohol-related disorder.
  • The introduction of Street Pastors in Witney town centre who make sure drunk revellers stay safe and get home safely. The Partnership contributes funding towards their training.

Where to get help

Drugs

The West Oxfordshire Drug and Alcohol Group is responsible to the Community Safety Partnership and its purpose is to coordinate and provide advice on the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy and the targets relating to drugs and alcohol in the Community Safety Strategy.

The group's members represent each of the following sectors: criminal justice, young people, health/treatment, housing, local community, community safety and the Oxfordshire Drug and Alcohol Treatment.

There are several drug and alcohol services in West Oxfordshire however the majority are based in Oxford. At a local level GP's will be able to make referrals to services such as the Specialist Community Addictions Service (SCAS) who have a resource centre in Witney. SMART CJS, which helps users tackle substance misuse, also have an office in Witney.

Further information

Downloads

 

PDF Download
Drugs and alcohol leaflet (720kb)

PDF Download
Employers Working Limits Book (2.7mb)

PDF Download
Nights Out poster (1.7mb)