Herts Council unroll their strategy to tackling drug and alcohol misuse
Hertfordshire County Council are setting out their strategy to tackle drug and alcohol misuse across the county
Tackling drug and alcohol misuse is a priority for Hertfordshire County Council, who will be using funds to ease pressure on health services.
Last month, the government awarded the council over £2 million to add to their 2023-2024 strategy.
The additional funding will be allocated to organisations and departments such as health services and police, to create a cross-agency approach to tackling the issue.
The idea is to focus on prevention as much as recovery, and address key areas involved with misuse such as crime and build support for users and victims.
Councillor Morris Bright said: "We already spend large sums on making sure we have staff in place who understand how to deal with these issues, but also that we work with other agencies such as doctors, the police, social services and so on."
"The additional funding enables us to build a much improved treatment and recovery service, that will save lives, it will improve the health and the wellbeing of people across the county, and it will reduce pressure on the NHS by diverting people from addiction to recovery."
Councillor Bright told Greatest Hits Radio the strategy has to create a joint approach, meaning the funding cannot be focused on only one area.
He said: "People don't always realise that the council actually takes part in programmes such as this, but we do, and all local authorities are expected to maintain the existing spend we already have on drug and alcohol to qualify for additional funding."
"It's not as if they're saying 'here's some money, you can spend it as you want', no, we have to prove that we're already working hard at Hertfordshire County Council."
Charities will also be working closely with the Council to provide support to people suffering from addiction, and victims of crimes linked to drug and alcohol abuse.