NCJ Number
205627
Date Published
2004
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This report presents a summary of speeches and presentations from the London Drug Policy Forum’s 10th Annual Conference on Availability: The Local Connection held in 2001.
Abstract
The London Drug Policy Forum ((LDPF) was established in 1991 to coordinate London local authority policy and practice and to encourage joint working. The LDPF has been able to bring together experts to assess the work of Government and its agencies across the drug field. Past LDPF conferences and publications have helped inform policy development. The LDPF’s 10th Annual Conference on Availability: The Local Connection, held in 2001, highlighted the good work carried out to reduce the damage drug dealing does to the citizens and the communities. The conference continues the tradition of bridging the gap between the headlines in the press concerning multi-million pound seizures of drugs and the actions that can effectively be taken at the local level to restrict drug markets and stop the damage they do to the fabric of the communities. This report presents a summary of the keynote speeches from the conference which included: drug trafficking in London and the United Kingdom, tackling availability, making partnership a reality, ministerial address, and tackling and disrupting the local drug markets and a summary of presentations which included: communities against drugs toolkit, Project Lilac, multi-agency drug reduction in Hackney, community action in Brixton, and the role of technology in tackling drugs. The conference concluded with the identification of six main concerns in the battle in reducing the availability of drugs: (1) the need to tackle middle markets; (2) making partnerships work; (3) engaging with communities; (4) developing an effective media strategy; (5) setting helpful targets; and (6) flexibility in responding to changing problems.