Community Connections (www.wcmt.org.uk)

Today I attended a very unique meeting. President Obama’s, Director of the White House’s National Drug control policy; R.Gil Kerlikowske was invited to address the East Baltimore Drug Free Coalition. The coalition consisted of a range of community people, strategic players, and local political officials. A variety of presentations took place from various community representatives sharing their experiences of, and responses to, the issue of drugs in the community. What struck me was the sheer absence of men from the community, which was the opposite in terms of political representatives, who were predominantly men. Each speaker had a different story to tell, some tragic, others challenging, all underpinned with an air of optimism. Erich March, a funeral director talked about the impact of burying young people had on the community he loved. His speech was moving, passionate, and tinged with sadness. The young people who spoke were very inspiring and called for the elders in the community to enable them to flourish. Key issues that emerged were:

1. The need for social marketing around community drug message promotion.
2. The key issue facing communities is a need for environmental change
3. Increased access to meaningful employment.
4. The problem should be rooted within a public health agenda

President Obama’s representative talked about the need to switch the lens for addressing drugs in the community, from a one of criminal justice, to more of a treatment agenda. The sheer weight of the problems the community was facing was frightening and begged a question; treatment agenda or criminal justice; can the underlying issues that create drug culture really be addressed via political means? It reminded me that in the US, there is not the level of local democracy we have in the UK, hence the community has to take care of itself. Access to treatment, resources, healthcare, education, and so on are all things in the UK we take for granted. Here in Baltimore, nothing can be taken for granted. I left the meeting with a very clear thought about what need to happen both here and in the UK. Communities need to own their own research agenda, and provide steer to be researched with as opposed to being researched on. Knowledge is power. Those who have the insights coming from the outcomes of research are in a much more powerful position than those who don’t. Owning and controlling the means of production and distribution of your own identifiable needs has to be a core priority for communities if they are to survive in diminishing resource environment.

Peace