The UK Drugs Policy Commission released a research paper at the House of Lords this week, and Aspire was there to help them launch it. The paper, on the Impact of Drugs on Different Minority Groups , looks at both drug use and drugs services available to a variety of different groups in society. We fed our knowledge and experiences into the section on disabled people.

Lord Kamlesh Patel hosted the event, which was introduced by Dame Ruth Runciman. Brian Carlin, Aspire’s Chief Executive, was there to respond on behalf of the disability sector and highlighted the lack of available data on drug use amongst disabled people and why Aspire was so keen to be involved in UKDPC’s work:

“We know that the Commission found it a real challenge to engage with the disability sector, partly because information is pretty sparse, but also it seems because of the stigma attached to drug use and a fear of being associated with it. At Aspire, we know there’s also a huge stigma attached to disability and those of us in the Sector have been fighting against it for years. So you’d think collectively we’d recognise this barrier when applied to a different subject matter and do our utmost to help break it down. It seems not, but Aspire is proud to have been involved and, moving forward, we hope more disability organisations will share what they know.

Spinal Cord Injury is a devastating, life changing injury. For many, it also leads to a lifetime of chronic pain. Perhaps understandably, many use drugs as a result. All of us working in this field have heard of individuals who take cannabis, for example, for pain relief. Whilst I can talk of individuals, what I can’t tell you is how many people with Spinal Injuries do take drugs, or even give a clear idea of whether the incidence is actually higher than amongst non-disabled people. Because in this, as the UKDPC have found time and again in their research across disability as a whole, there is such a paucity of data that hard facts are thin on the ground.”