Hi just a quick note to let you know that the new London Drug Policy Forum (LDPF) Guide to the National Drug Strategy has just been published. Its on my website (www.saramcgrail.co.uk) and hard copies are available via david.mackintosh@cityoflondon.gov.uk.

The LDPF Guide is now in its third edition and is still the only independent user friendly guide to the implementation of drug strategy at a local level that's around.

We started to write it because we found that while a lot of people in the drugs field talked about DATs and JCGs and LSPs etc, a lot of other people didn't have the foggiest idea what they were talking about. We know that how drug services are commissioned and how national strategy is "done" in or to local areas can often seem like a cross between Yes Minister and the opening scene from Macbeth. Yet its obviously critically important that services, providers, and consumers understand how the systems work, where the levers are and what might happen if they yank on one. That's why we created The Guide - and we think that's why its so popular. Its funded by the LDPF and doesn't have any central government funding, so its all done on a shoestring. However the Guide is still free and we are committed to keeping it that way for as long as resources permit.

We hope if you decide to take a look at the Guide you find it interesting. Most of all we hope it gives you more confidence navigating local and national drugs bureaucracy.

Thanks

Sara McGrail