New Plan To Tackle Substance Use

A new 10-year plan has been created to take action on alcohol and drug use in Jersey.

The new strategy is called 'A Change in Direction' and has a new community focus.

Public Health is working towards five main aims to tackle substance use in the island.

Over the next decade, the government department will try to delay the onset of substance use while preventing problematic use.

These preventative steps will reduce harm to individuals, their families and the community.

Users will also be given access to extra support, which will be enhanced with better health and well-being strategy in a way which will be sustainable in the future.

The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Karen Wilson, says it is a comprehensive and forward-thinking approach to addressing the problem.

"Substance use encompasses a wide range of drugs that impact the brain, body, or both and while not everyone who uses substances will develop a dependency, potential harms can arise at any time.

Recognising the complexity of substance use, the strategy covers various substances, including alcohol, psychoactive drugs, medicines, and performance and image-enhancing drugs."

The plan has been based on research from the past 10 years, which includes data ranging from alcohol use in children and OECD survey results.

Data from 2010 to 2019 shows Jersey drank the most alcohol, of any OECD country, in eight of the ten years recorded.

This tops countries including France, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

It was estimated in 2022 that the average adult in Jersey drank the equivalent of 12 litres of pure alcohol a year.

The equivalent to this is every islander over the age of 15 drinking nearly three bottles of wine, around eight pints of strong beer or half a bottle of spirits per week.

This would equal around 135 bottles of wine a year, 421 pints, or 26 bottles of spirits a year.

Alcohol will be a priority area.

Director of Public Health, Professor Peter Bradley says a comprehensive approach that works across the sectors is best.

"What we know already is that alcohol continues to be an issue for us as an island with one in five islanders drinking to hazardous levels.

"For other drugs what we've seen is a plateau in use, so no increase or decrease, but obviously the content by which people obtain drugs now is changing, so we know that people for example can access those drugs much more easily online."

A 'Substance Use Strategic Group' will be formed to work across health and the criminal justice departments to monitor trends and to ensure responses are appropriate.