Understanding Drugs Use and Harm in Our Local Communities – Bognor Regis

We are asking for the views and experiences of people from the Bognor Regis area, who have experienced issues related to drug use, and of those who work in the community to support others for issues related to drug use.

A multi-agency working group, comprising of partners of the Safer West Sussex Partnership Executive and West Sussex Violence Reduction Partnership, are working to support individuals and communities to overcome the issues which can lead to cycles of continued drug use. A series of activities are already underway, and we need to better understand the lives of residents in the area, so that more targeted support can be put in place.

The National Crime Agency produces a national picture of ‘County Lines’ and the movement and supply of illicit drugs around the country. However, this does not carry the level of detail required to understand the drivers of demand at the local level. Evidence demonstrates that supply will follow demand and where supply outstrips demand we may see increases of violence across West Sussex.

We have chosen Bognor Regis as a suitable area for us to pilot this partnership approach understanding this demand. This approach may subsequently be conducted to help us understand this picture across other areas of West Sussex.

This work is being conducted in two stages:

Stage 1: Firstly, we have identified and contacted relevant services for anonymised data for a three-year range (2018-2020), following three cohorts who may be using drugs:

1. Casual, or infrequent/recreational use: being those who do not have a regular habit and may not identify themselves as common drug users.
2. Habitual use: being those who have developed a habitual relationship with drugs but are managing this habit and are still engaging with wider elements of society and may have no relationship with community services.
3. Chaotic or destructive use: being those with addictions which are significantly diminishing their ability to maintain employment, housing, or other social norms.

To help us understand the issues of drug demand in Bognor Regis is, the data includes:

• The scale of drug the drug market across Bognor Regis, including known and potential unknown user cohorts.
• Current treatment levels for known users.
• Market operations, such as how users currently pay for drugs and if this increases other related crime.
• The number of cuckooed victims, how this tactic works and what it looks like across the town.
• How vulnerable adults are targeted and what the usual adult profile looks like.
• Known hotspot locations for violence and cuckooing and why these areas have high activity.

Stage 2: A qualitative online questionnaire has been developed for ‘Service Providers’ and also for ‘Service Users’ to help inform our understanding of drug use and harm in the local community.

The information provided via the data extraction and qualitative questionnaire responses will be shared with WSCC Public Health analysts to produce an analysis of drug demand for the town of Bognor Regis. This is part of the work commissioned by the Safer West Sussex Executive and Violence Reduction Partnership to tackle serious violence fuelled by drug demand in West Sussex.