Drug Action Forum

Dealer a Day!

2008-11-14T11:22:00.005Z

The council and police appear to be working extra hard at cracking down on drug dealers in Tower Hamlets! This week's East End Life highlighted the 'Dealer a Day' initiative set out by Communities Against Drugs and Alcohol Abuse back in May (read newspaper report here). This is really good news and a direct result of the work of Drug Action Forum. It clearly highlights the need for council, police and community to work together. At the TELCO assembly at York Hall on Wednesday evening the work we've been doing and in particular the Deal with It Day was mentioned as one of the initiatives contributing towards fighting drugs in the borough. See the press release from the event here. Councillor Rahman, the leader of Tower Hamlets Council, gave further commitments to work with CADAA and the local community to combat drugs. See below for a brief snippet of what he said.

Next Meeting

2008-10-24T16:13:00.001+01:00

Our next meeting will be on Friday 7th November from 7-8pm at the Arbour Youth Centre, Shandy Street, E1. All welcome.

Exciting News!

2008-10-16T10:05:00.012+01:00

I'm proud to say that the work of the Drug Action Forum here on the Ocean Estate has had a dynamic effect on what's happening across the borough. Our work co-incides with two other grassroots initiatives that began shortly after ours, just before the summer. Firstly, TELCO (The East London Communities Organisation), began a campaign called Citysafe that aims to tackle issues of safety on our streets. Local membership includes Stepney Green School, Queen Mary University, Stepney Fathers Group and The Salvation Army in Stepney. TELCO idenitified drug dealing as the key issue to tackle. Secondly, CADAA (Communities Against Drugs and Alcohol Abuse) began meeting in Spitalfields to examine a community response to drugs. Ishaque and I attended the meeting, explaining what we'd been doing on the Ocean with the Drug Action Forum. The exciting news is that with our contribution these two groups have formed an alliance to tackle drugs issues. Together we bring 40 organisations based in Tower Hamlets to the table.

So what's the plan? A six point plan has been developed to work with the council and police to start tackling issues of drug dealing. A meeting has been held with the council leader, Councillor Rahman, who has agreed to work with this initiative. If all goes well he will launch the partnership at an event on 12 November at York Hall with over 1000 people in attendance. As a part of the Drug Action Forum you are invited to this event. Because of our actions and the Deal With It Day, we have contributed to what is developing into a real force of change. We need to show the council leader that we mean business and so need as many people as we can to come along. Let us know by email if you would like a ticket - it's free.

Congratulations - your actions however small have led to a movement for change!

Deal With It top ten

2008-09-01T21:39:00.011+01:00

Well, with all the hard work it's nice to put our feet up and take a view back of all that happened on Saturday. Here's our top-ten features of the day:

10: we had a gloriously sunny day, not something to take lightly this Summer!
9: we had a good turn-out. We were hoping for around 300 people to pass through over the time we there - we definitely got that.
8: Sue (and Adam) excelled herself in her 'Snack Hut' - she raised around £110 for Hope UK
7: the bouncy castle and mendhi proved extremely popular with large queues
6: Doreen's Line Dancing troop were certainly a hit - it was particularly good to see a few people get up stage to have a go!
5: we had 12 stalls there - most of them providing important information about drugs and alcohol
4: there was plenty of opportunity for people to make new friends and meet others from the Ocean Estate
3: the park became a place of fun and real community for the day - no drug dealing to be seen
2: the drug action forum was able to recruit some new faces and lots of really good conversations about drugs issues were shared.
1: most importantly the issue of drug misuse was brought to the fore and the community came together to show that we really want to 'deal with it'

Thanks particularly to Niki, Ruzina, Sue, Nick and Ishaque for all their organisation in making the day happen at all. Roll on next year!

Here are some photos from the day...

Sue's Snack Hut!

Pete and Ishaque on the sound desk

Line dancers:

Bellringing:

Stall holders

Deal With It Day!

2008-08-27T16:31:00.001+01:00

IT'S THIS SATURDAY! BE THERE!

U Turn

2008-06-26T10:31:00.003+01:00

The Drug Action Forum has inspired a number of new initiatives around the Estate. One new project is called 'U Turn'. You can read all the information by downloading the leaflet here. Here's a little snippet...

“U turn” Project is a local initiative in Stepney which supports young people 16-25 years old who have been involved in gang related incidents and drug dealing, to find a way back to the mainstream society and help find new employment opportunities. The project meets young people at the point where they are in their lives and works together with them to change behaviour patterns and to find suitable employment.

The project is being delivered in partnership with 3 key local providers the Arbour, Salvation Army Stepney and Ocean JobShop; bringing together all their skills and expertise in order to create a successful project for local young people.'

Festival update

2008-06-26T10:18:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since the last entry so time for an update. Things have been moving forward...

We now have a date, a name and a website for the festival! Here's the latest:

Name: DEAL WITH IT DAY - local people together in action against drugs.
Date: Saturday 30 August
Place: Shandy Park
Website: www.dealwithit.btik.com
The big idea: To reclaim the park as a space for people to enjoy and be community together without fear of drugs. To celebrate local culture through different acts and performers. To find out more about how to respond to the drugs issues on the estate. To empower the local community to know that together we are stronger than those who blight our spaces with drugs and the effects of drugs.

If you have any ideas of what we could include in the festival - from entertainment to practicalities please let us know...

Developments

2008-04-24T09:30:00.008+01:00

Last night's working party discussed some exciting developments and opportunities for engaging with drug issues on the Ocean Estate. Basically, we began where we left off at the previous meeting and tried to nail down some specifics. What we're looking for now is support to take these things forward and there's a variety of possibilities - so please sign up to get involved. Here's what we came up with:

i) A Community Festival - recognising the need to 'reclaim the community spaces' and see the neighbourhood coming together in positive and inclusive ways, it was suggested that we held a day of festivities in Shandy Park, perhaps one Saturday in the Summer. At least two people at the meeting had expertise and contacts to deal with the practicalities and access to funding. The day could include stalls, entertainment from local schools/groups etc. Next Step: to set up a small festival committee who could oversee development and delegate responsibilities. Dates and times for a meeting to be circulated.

ii) Neighbourhood Outreach - we batted around ideas of community wardens/walkers/patrollers. Eventually we settled on the idea of doing some door-to-door work - working our way around the estate street by street introducing ourselves, canvassing opinions on drug issues and identifying others to lend their support in some way. Also, an hour after-school on Ben Jonson Road could fulfil a similar function. Next Step: Door to door outreach starting Tuesday 6 May, 5-7pm, meeting at The Arbour Youth Centre, Shandy Street. Thereafter weekly. Please indicate if you would like to come along on one of these evenings.

iii) A Drugs strategy group - From 2001-2005 a drugs strategy group met regularly on the Ocean Estate, which included professionals and agencies involved in drug-related issues. We will endeavour to set up this group again - to meet perhaps quarterly - including police, schools, youth workers, drug agencies, community representatives, councillors. Hopefully this will bring some joined up thinking and longer-term expertise. Next Step: Nick to approach local stakeholders on behalf of Drug Action Forum.

iv) Arbour Youth Centre - Youth workers from the Arbour Youth Centre are committed to 2 new initiatives. A youth drug forum will be held at the centre, canvassing the opinions of local young people which will link with the work we're trying to do. Secondly, a pilot project offering training and help with job prospects for those involved in low-level drug dealing on the estate to be developed for this summer.

So certainly some strong developments there. Please leave comments here or email with suggestions.

Hope

2008-04-02T12:58:00.003+01:00

Take a look at this video based on some work amongst people with addictions in Tower Hamlets. I think this shows that transformations can happen...

Meeting report

2008-03-31T10:10:00.004+01:00

First of all a big thank you to all who made it to the meeting on Friday evening. There were 23 of us and a healthy spread of experiences, backgrounds and opinions. I think it would be fair to say that it was an encouraging start. Here is a quick resume of the discussion/brainstorming from the sheets:

What is the drug problem?
Alcohol, crack and heroin, young dealers, links between drugs and youth, lack of school/community responsibility for the problems, seeing people dealing/smoking drugs outside Bengal House, St Dunstans churchyard, Allonby House, Channel House, Trafalgar Gardens and Masters Street, dealing in front of children, better than 10 years ago, gang related drug use, related issues of fighting/crime/prostitution/ money laundering, crazy driving and big cars, blatant dealing anytime anywhere, dealers have no fear, intimidating for passers-by, wide diversity of users/dealers, drug tourism.

What can we do? Some suggestions:
Short term: Trained wardens with trained dogs; outreach with a friendly approach; community volunteers to patrol the area; monitor the shops who are known to selling illicit/illegal stuff; short-term reward system for volunteers who offer to come off drugs; take pictures of those selling drugs; a phone number to call or report drug activity; put CCTV in hotspots; tell our friends to build some momentum for change; party in the park (reclaim the spaces for positive community activity); support on personal level those affected.

Long term: Community festival; lobby appropriate 'bodies' to invest in wardens/develop strategy; more police presence; education - ourselves/ schools/ youth clubs/ parents/ residents/ faith communities; develop better family and community values; provide better alternatives for those involved in drugs - leisure activities/ friendship/ facilities/ community; improve housing (overcrowding); break the cycle; create co-ordination between support groups; build a strong community that watches out for one another; make the law stronger; strengthen the community standing together; more youth facilities.

And so the next step - rest assured that we are going to do something! The small group who put themselves forward to make up a 'working party' will meet and work on a short-term 'action' and a long-term 'strategy'. You will be hearing from us...

Our first public meeting

2008-03-26T11:52:00.000Z

Please join us for a planning meeting at 7pm on Friday 28th March at the Arbour Youth Centre, 100 Shandy Street, Stepney. Our aim is to gather a number together residents of Stepney, and in particular the Ocean Estate, to begin a discussion about drug-related issues in our community and how we can work together to become effective agents of change. We hope to see you there...