Back to the front: the future of user involvement as a potent political force Available to Purchase

This article will explore many of the challenges facing the future of effective user involvement as we prepare ourselves for a new government drug strategy and National Treatment Agency era, which on first viewing appears to have turned its back on a movement that it has long paid lip service to as a valued and respected partner and component of effective drug treatment. The tone of this article is intentionally opinionated and provocative and is based on 10 years experience of being an illicit drug user (although admittedly never a service user) working in the harm reduction and user involvement field as a coalface worker, strategic co‐ordinator and presently, manager of a national charity. If this piece polarises opinion and stimulates debate then it has been successful; user involvement used to be dictated by personal politics and passion, not a pension, and in order to survive, it may need to rediscover that.