Substance misuse

Alcohol and drug misuse relates to the use of alcohol and/or drugs which affects someone’s health and wellbeing and those around them. Misuse can involve being dependent on substances or taking them in a way that causes harm. Some substances, such as illegal drugs, cause harm however you take them. 

Alcohol and drug misuse becomes an issue when it affects someone’s day-to-day life, feelings and emotions, health, and their relationships with others. 

What we are doing to reduce alcohol and drugs misuse in Warwickshire

Warwickshire Drug & Alcohol Strategic Partnership (DASP)

The successful delivery of the Government’s Drugs Strategy, From Harm to Hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives (2021), relies on co-ordinated action across a range of local partners including those responsible for enforcement, treatment, recovery, and prevention.

In this National Drugs Strategy, the Government sets out its ambition to combat illegal drug use and lays out the following objectives:

• Break drug supply chains
• Deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system
• Achieve a generational shift in demand for drugs 

The Warwickshire Drug and Alcohol Strategic Partnership (DASP) will be accountable for delivering the outcomes in line with the National Drugs Strategy.

The partnership is chaired by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, and includes membership from:

• Warwickshire County Council Elected Members, Public Health, Strategy and Commissioning, Children and Families, Community Safety 
• Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire OPCC, and the Local Criminal Justice Board
• Substance Misuse services providers (both adults and children and young people)
• ICB and CWPT (Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust)
• Probation and West Midlands Prisons
• DWP
• District and Borough Housing
• OHID Midlands
• Commissioned Domestic Abuse service providers 

The DASP meets quarterly in advance of the Safer Warwickshire Partnership Board to which it reports.