National strategy overview

National Strategy

Drug Action Teams (DAT's) were first formed in 1995 as part of an overall strategy to tackle substance misuse. In 1998 the Labour Government continued this work by launching the National Ten Year Strategy 'Tackling Drugs - Changing Lives'.

The strategy aims to 'create healthy, confident societies increasingly free from the harm cause by the misuse of drugs' and sets out four key target areas:

• Young People - To help young people resist drugs misuse
• Communities - To protect communities from drug related crime and anti-social behaviour. Empowering communities to address local drug issues
• Treatment - To enable people with drug problems to overcome them
• Availability - To reduce the availability of illegal drugs
• Criminal Justice - Supporting people out of crime and into treatment

Drug Action Teams

Substance misuse is a complex and far-reaching issue and so Drug Action Teams were established as multi-agency groups with responsibility for delivering the National Strategy at a local level.

Drug Action Teams bring together a diverse range of statutory, non-statutory and voluntary sector organisations in order to devise, implement and deliver substance misuse action plans that contribute towards the fulfillment of national targets as well as responding to local issues.