Addictions drive around half of all theft, burglary and robbery, so boosting treatment for addicts and tackling supply and demand for drugs through our ten year Drugs Strategy will both help cut crime and save lives in North Norwich.

I welcome the news that the Government is providing an extra £421 million to 151 councils across England until 2025 to improve drug and alcohol addiction recovery, creating over 50,000 places in a range of drug and alcohol treatment services, and I look forward to organisations in Norwich benefiting from these new funds.

Norfolk is set to benefit from just over £5 million of extra funding, and Local Authorities can spend the funding on a range of initiatives including;

• recruiting more staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems,
• helping more people in the criminal justice system to get into drug and alcohol treatment,
• increased provision of novel long-acting medicine to treat opiate dependence,
• helping more people to go to residential rehabilitation or inpatient detoxification if they need these services,
• enhancing the services that keep people in recovery after they leave treatment and help them to avoid relapse.

This funding will help more people access the support they need and prevent nearly 1,000 drug related deaths, while making our streets safer through recovery from the addictions that are known to drive offending and protecting our communities in North Norwich.

We have incredible drug and alcohol services in Norwich, and I was privileged to open the Bridge service at the Matthew Project in Norwich over ten years ago. The Matthew Project is well established in Norwich and Norfolk and continues to provide dedicated support for people who need help with drug or alcohol addictions.

You can find the contact details for the Matthew Project and many other alcohol and drug support organisations in the resources below.