The conference: Highs & Lows of Drugs and Alcohol. How is Birmingham Responding? is aimed at Birmingham professionals who would like to know more about substance misuse and the services on offer.

Issues to be discussed on December 7th include:

– All you ever needed to know about the harms that Legal Highs can cause.
– Understand the harms of Heroin use can cause and what help is available.
– Cannabis and skunk use is a growing problem, understand why this is.
– For the majority, alcohol remains the drug of choice in the city. Why is this?
– The diverse communities of Birmingham use drugs and alcohol dependent upon their culture. Understand more about the differences.

Birmingham Public Health’s Drug and Alcohol commissioning manager, Max Vaughan, said: “Alcohol and drug recovery services have changed in Birmingham. Our aim is to target individuals posing the highest risks to themselves, to their families and to the wider community.

“So this conference will look at the very real issues affecting people across our city. We’ll look at everything from the ongoing problem with alcohol to the growing issue of legal highs.”

Since March 2015, leading drug and alcohol charity CRI has delivered a range of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services across Birmingham.

The Reach Out Recovery service offers a community focused support package, taking support out into the communities where people live. ROR teams work in GP surgeries, pharmacies, job centres and other key places across Birmingham communities. There is also a central city centre service at Scala House on Holloway Circus, which is open Monday to Saturday, providing specialist support, drop in services and needle exchange.

CRI Director Nic Adamson added: “Traditionally a treatment service has operated in a single location with service users needing to travel sometimes significant distances to get treatment. Reach Out Recovery takes the service to people who need it within their own community. This is really exciting as it puts drug and alcohol solutions in the hearts of communities and enables us to get the local community involved.

“CRI are excited to be working together with Birmingham City Council for this conference which will address the important substance misuse issues that we face each day in our city. The conference promises to provide both a unique and valuable insight for Birmingham professionals.”